Wait of another 6 months for online viewing of documents and files of the BMC

As a part of e-governance initiative, the BMC has planned to make all its administrative documents and files online, this would enable citizens to view any files on a single click and comfort of his home or office. But they will have to wait for more 6 months as the papers need to be scanned and stored. Out of 80 crore pages only 7 crore pages have been scanned till date, this was revealed in its reply to a query filed by RTI Activist Anil Galgali.

Anil Galgali in a query filed with the IT dept of the BMC had enquired about the status of progress of scanning of documents. Mahesh Narvekar, Director, IT Dept & Public Information Officer for the dept, informed that, the BMC intends to scan and store all the administrative documents and files. Out of 80 crore pages, 7 crore pages have been scanned up till now, this means only around 9% scanning has been achieved. On further query whether the scanned pages are available for public viewing? Mr Narvekar replied, that the BMC requires a software called Document Management system to make the documents available to public, since the process for purchasing the software system is in progress, it will take another 6 months to make the documents available. Further in the query of how much is this going to cost? Mr Narvekar replied the BMC will be paying as per the rate fixed by the State Govt of Rs 0.36 (36 paise) per page, this also includes the cost of indexing.

Galgali further asked for the intention of carrying out the scanning project, to which Mr Narvekar replied that the BMC intends to digitalise all its documents and create a back up of it. The BMC feels that the statutory subjects, approvals and analysis of inquiries and information's is of utmost importance in this era. This will also ensure that the files cannot be tampered, altered or destroyed with ulterior motives, also in case of any unforeseen disasters, the digital backup will ensure that public services are not hampered and will be responsive and transperant. Anil Galgali has said that this is of utmost importance and should be completed as soon as possible, so that the mumbaikars can take benefit of the same at the earliest.