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Launching the portal www. harsamadhan.gov.in as a pilot project of the Government of India, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that redressal of residents' grievances was the priority of the state government.

Click On Image For Website View..

He said the user-friendly new portal would help residents get their grievances redressed quickly. He hoped that "Harsamadhan" would prove a significant step forward in the field of e-governance in the state and would prove to be an important initiative to fulfil the government's commitment to provide a people-friendly and transparent administration.

"Harsamadhan"would allow registration of grievances on an "anytime, anywhere" basis , Hooda said the government's mission was to make governance transparent and enable online common solutions and feedback, reduce delivery costs by minimising duplication of effort by individuals and departments.

Source: The Tribune Now, redressal of grievances a click away

All of India's 626 districts will have to automate 6-10 services, such as pensions, ra- tion cards, filing of cases in revenue courts, issuance of caste, marriage, income and employment certificates, etc.
under the scheme.

Past records and certificates will be fed into a common data repository that can be ac- cessed online. District admin- istrations will have an 18-month deadline to com- plete the digitization. The depart- ment will spend 75% of the project cost, expected to be at least Rs2,500 crore, while states will shell out the rest.

It has ap- plied for fund- ing with the expenditure finance commit- tee, an official said. Any planned expenditure has to be approved by the panel. "The national roll-out of the project should begin within the next four-five months as soon as the cabinet approves the fund- ing."

"A pilot programme is being conducted currently in 40 dis- tricts across 14 states," said another bureaucrat. Neither official wanted to be named.

surabhi.a@livemint.com

Source: Live Mint By Surabhi Agarwal E-Governance Push: Public Services Data To Be Available Online

नगर निगम की सारी कार्रवाई यदि तय समय में पूरी हुई तो एक जून से लोग अपने घर या इंटरनेट कैफे में बैठकर ऑन लाइन अपनी शिकायत दर्ज करा सकेंगे। इस योजना का पूरा खाका नगर निगम ने तैयार कर लिया है और इसके लिए उसने टेंडर भी काल कर लिए हैं। वहीं पूरी योजना को सिरे चढ़ाने के लिए निगमायुक्त आरके खुल्लर ने पांच लोगों की एक कमेटी का गठन भी किया है। कमेटी में संयुक्त आयुक्त वाईएस गुप्ता, एसई वीके गर्ग, चीफ एकाउंट आफिसर एसडी गौतम, एसडीओ विशाल गर्ग व सतीश पराशर को शामिल किया है। बताया जाता है टेंडर में छह विभिन्न एजेंसियों ने भाग लिया है पर गुड़गांव की ही एक एजेंसी को काम मिलने की पूरी संभावना है। कारण यह एजेंसी नागरिक सुविधा केंद्र की योजना की प्लानिंग से जुड़ी है और यही कारण है कि अपना डीएलएफ फेस थ्री के आफिस पर ताला लगाकर निगम दफ्तर से ही अपना कार्यालय संचालित कर रही है। निगम ने हाई प्रोफाइल व पढ़े-लिखे लोगों को तो सुविधा देने की योजना बना ली लेकिन दूसरे वर्ग की पूरी तरह अनदेखी की।

योजना पर एक नजर
इस नई योजना के तहत नगर निगम सीमा में रहने वाले लोग अपनी कोई भी शिकायत निगम की वेबसाइट में डाल देंगे। इसके बाद नगर परिषद वाले निगम कार्यालय में बने नागरिक सुविधा केंद्र पर तैनात कर्मी उक्त शिकायत को संबंधित विभाग के पास भेज देगा। वहां से जिस अधिकारी को इस शिकायत के निराकरण के लिए अधिकृत किया जाएगा उसका नाम, कितना समय लगेगा एवं कितना खर्चा आएगा आदि की जानकारी नागरिक सुविधा केंद्र से संबंधित व्यक्ति के पास ई मेल से पहुंच जाएगी। यदि संबंधित व्यक्ति इससे संतुष्ट नहीं है, तो वह खुद समस्या का निराकरण करा सकता है और इसके लिए निगम ने जितने खर्च का आंकलन किया है उसका भुगतान संबंधित व्यक्ति को निगम कर देगा।

वेबसाइट काम नहीं कर रही और नई प्लानिंग में जुट गए
मियांवाली गली रहने वाले मोहित गुप्ता का कहना है निगम ने पढ़े-लिखे लोगों को लिए तो यह प्लानिंग कर ली लेकिन गरीब तबके व कम पढ़े-लिखे लोगों को क्या इसी प्रकार अपनी समस्याओं के निराकरण के लिए निगम कार्यालय व अधिकारियों के चक्कर लगाना होंगे। वहीं सेक्टर 15 रहने वाले रोहित कुमार का कहना है जिस प्रकार निगम की वेबसाइट का उपयोग लोग नहीं कर पा रहे कहीं यह नई योजना भी कागजों में न सिमट कर रहे जाए। सेक्टर 55 रहने वाली लेक्चरार अमिता मदान का कहना है निगम ने दो साल में सैकड़ों योजनाएं बनाई लेकिन उसमें से गिनती की सिरे चढ़ पाई हैं। अब इस योजना का कितने लोग लाभ उठा पाएंगे या फिर जिस मंशा को लेकर योजना बनाई गई वह पूरी होगी या नहीं इसका पता आने वाले समय में ही लगेगा।

क्या कहते हैं अधिकारी
निगमायुक्त आरके खुल्लर का कहना है अभी तक लोगों को शिकायतें लेकर निगम कार्यालय व अधिकारियों के चक्कर लगाने पड़ते हैं इससे निजात दिलाने के लिए नागरिक सुविधा केंद्र की योजना तैयार की गई है। योजना के तहत एक जून से काम शुरू हो जाएगा और इसके लिए तैयारियां अंतिम चरण में चल रही हैं।

हूडा के एक अधिकारी ने बताया कि हूडा को पूरी तरह कंप्यूटराइज्ड करने की कवायद चल रही है। इसके अकाउंट्स डिपार्टमेंट को विशेष सॉफ्टवेयर नेटवर्क के जरिए उच्चाधिकारियों तक पहुंचाया जाएगा। इस सॉफ्टवेयर का नाम 'फाइनेंशल अकाउंटिंग सिस्टम' है। इसका फायदा यह होगा कि काम खत्म होने के बाद अधिकारी ज्यादा से ज्यादा समय विकास कार्यों पर दे पाएंगे। इसके लिए उन्हें ट्रेनिंग भी दी जा रही है, जो 10 दिन तक चलेगी।

बटन दबाते ही सामने होगा रिकॉर्ड
जानकारों के अनुसार हूडा के सभी अकाउंट्स लिखित में होते हैं, जिन्हें संभालना और मेंटेन करना अधिकारियों के लिए काफी मशक्कत भरा होता है। अधिकारियों को महीने की पहली तारीख को अपने डिपार्टमेंट के अकाउंट्स की सभी जानकारी उच्चाधिकारियों को देनी होती है, लेकिन यह डेटा तैयार करने में उन्हें कई दिन लग जाते हैं। इसके लिए कई बार उन्हें उच्चाधिकारियों की डांट भी सुननी पड़ती है, लेकिन अब ऐसा नहीं होगा।

अधिकारियों को महीने के आखिरी दिन तक पूरी जानकारी इस नेटवर्क में सेव करनी होगी। इसके लिए सभी को पासवर्ड और यूजरनेम दिए जाएंगे। कंप्यूटर पर माउस क्लिक करते ही सभी पुराना रिकॉर्ड उनके सामने होगा।

जिले की वेबसाइट को अपडेट करने के लिए सभी अधिकारियों को मंगलवार को उपायुक्त राजेंद्र कटारिया द्वारा अपने-अपने विभागों से संबंधित समस्त सूचना नैशनल इंफोरमेटिक्स सेंटर के जिला सूचना अधिकारी (डीआईओ) एस.के. रस्तोगी को मुहैया कराने के निर्देश दिए हैं।

नगर निगम क्षेत्र व प्रापर्टी सर्वे करने वाली मैप वे इंडिया कंपनी ने शहर के नक्शे सहित अन्य जानकारी साइट पर डाउन लोड कर इसका ब्लू प्रिंट तैयार कर लिया है। इसके बाद आपको जिस भी क्षेत्र, कालोनी, पोस्ट आफिस, पिन नंबर, अनधिकृत या वैध कालोनी, नगर निगम की सीमा, पुलिस थाने सहित अन्य जानकारी के लिए किसी विभाग के चक्कर नहीं लगाना पड़ेंगे।

मालूम हो इसी कंपनी ने जहां नगर निगम सीमा की जनसंख्या का सर्वे किया वहीं प्रापर्टी सर्वे का भी। कंपनी ने सर्वे व पोस्ट आफिस विभाग की मदद से शहर का खाका तैयार कर एक नक्शा तैयार कर लिया है। साइट तैयार होते ही सारी जानकारी डाउन लोड कर दी जाएंगी और इसके बाद लोग निगम की वेबसाइट में जाते ही शहर से जुड़ी हर जानकारी प्राप्त कर सकेंगे।

निगमायुक्त आरके खुल्लर ने बताया कि कंपनी को इस काम के लिए उन्होंने ही दिशा-निर्देश दिए थे और आने वाले समय में कंपनी की इस साइट को निगम की वेबसाइट में डाल दिया जाएगा। कंपनी के असिस्टेंट वाइस प्रेसिडेंट जय कुमार का कहना है कि यह काम एक चुनौती थी और यह काम पूरा हो गया है। इसकी टेस्टिंग चल रही है।

मकानों के नंबर डालने का काम जारी : साइबर सिटी में कौन सी कालोनी में कौन से नंबर का मकान किस गली या सड़क के पास स्थित है यह जानने के लिए लोगों को अभी कुछ इंतजार करना होगा। कंपनी शहर के नक्शे में संबंधित क्षेत्रों में संबंधित मकानों की संख्या डालने का काम कर रही है। यह काम पूरा होते ही लोग कंप्यूटर पर किसी भी क्षेत्र के मकान के बारे में जानकारी के साथ यह भी पता कर पाएंगे कि किस मकान में किराएदार रहते हैं और कहां मकान मालिक।

कंपनी की ओर से सभी आरडब्ल्यूए के लिए वेबसाइट नि:शुल्क तैयार की जाएगी। कुछ के लिए वेबसाइट तैयार भी हो चुकी है। वेबसाइट पर संबंधित आरडब्ल्यूए की पूरी जानकारी होगी। लोगों के नाम, पता व टेलीफोन नंबर सहित कई प्रकार की जानकारी उपलब्ध होगी। वेबसाइट की मुख्य कमान आरडब्ल्यूए के पास होगी। संबंधित सेक्टर के लोगों के पास यदि समस्याएं हैं, वे वेबसाइट पर समस्याएं डाल देंगे। समस्याओं को संबंधित आरडब्ल्यूए प्रशासन को फॉरवार्ड कर देगी। वेबसाइट पर टैक्सी संचालक, फूल विक्रेता से सभी आवश्यक संचालकों की जानकारी होगी। यदि किसी को फूल चाहिए, तो वह ऑनलाइन एसएमएस करेगा और उसके पास होम डिलवरी की तर्ज पर फूल पहुंच जाएंगे। हालांकि आवश्यक सुविधाएं हासिल करने के लिए लोगों को कुछ पैसे खर्च करने होंगे। यह पैसा वेबसाइट तैयार करने वाली कंपनी के पास जाएगा।

जस्ट इंफो ऑनलाइन सर्विसेज प्राइवेट लिमिटेड की एमडी जेसिका सिंह व आपरेशन हेड प्रीति धारीवाल ने दैनिक जागरण को बताया कि यह कार्य हैदराबाद, बंगलूर व चेन्नई में सफलतापूर्वक चल रहा है। अब नोएडा व गुड़गांव में इसकी शुरुआत की गई है। दोनों जगह लोगों का सहयोग प्राप्त हो रहा है, क्योंकि आज घर बैठे ही लोग आवश्यक सुविधाएं हासिल करना चाहते हैं। कंपनी की ओर से केवल सुविधाएं ही नहीं, बल्कि समय-समय पर विभिन्न ऐतिहासिक व पर्यटन स्थलों पर घुमाने का भी कार्यक्रम तैयार किया जाएगा। इसके लिए लोगों को कुछ रुपये देने होंगे। सूरजकुंड मेला शुरू होने वाला है। इसमें लोगों को ले जाने के लिए भी योजना बनाई जाएगी। जेसिका सिंह कहती हैं कि कंपनी की योजना पूरे देश में कार्य करने की है। जल्द ही अन्य जगहों के लिए भी योजना बनाई जाएगी। कहीं कंपनी स्वयं कार्य करेगी तो कहीं फ्रेंचाइजी को देगी। सेक्टर 17 आरडब्ल्यूए के प्रेसिडेंट कर्नल आरसी चढ्डा कहते हैं कि आज के समय में किसी के पास समय नहीं है। ऐसे समय में यह वेबसाइट एक क्रांतिकारी कदम है। इसके माध्यम से जहां लोग आवश्यक सुविधाएं घर बैठे ही हासिल कर पाएंगे वहीं अपनी समस्याओं से प्रशासन को भी अवगत करा पाएंगे।

Yes, the market is definitely looking up, with new launches leading the rising curve in the residential realty segment.

About 33 per cent of projects in this category have recorded a price increase at the panIndia level, suggests data by real estate research firm PropEquity. Talking about Delhi-NCR, the report says the city that showed the maximum price increase between March and October 2009 at 11.1 per cent, was Gurgaon (see table). Faridabad came next at 8.5 per cent, Noida and Greater Noida at 6.5 per cent and Ghaziabad at 5.1 per cent.

Source: PropEquity New Lauches: Projects Launched during Oct 2008-March-2009   Old Lauched: Projects Lauched up to Sep 2008    Time Frame: Projects prices are compared between two points in time. March 2009 as base and Oct 2009 as Final price

According to Samir Jasuja, CEO of PropEquity, Gurgaon and Noida prices had reacted to the slowdown and fallen much lower than established base prices (in the market) when compared to other NCR hubs. Also, out of the four markets, Gurgaon had the maximum number of new launches and since the price correction is led by this category, it has logged the highest price increase too.

The gap between the launch price of new offerings post-slowdown and the established base price in the market was also the widest in Gurgaon. As a result of this influx of supply at lower prices, the established base price underwent downward revision. With markets picking up, the base price in the city is headed towards earlier established levels. And that is why one can see Gurgaon logging the maximum price rise, explains Jasuja.

There was hardly any difference between new launch prices and the established base price in Ghaziabad, and thus there wasn't a significant increase in prices.

Also, in terms of price decline in existing projects due to the downturn, Noida recorded a sharper fall as compared to other NCR hubs, leading to higher prices of old projects there. These were seen as leading the overall increase in Noida instead of the new launches.

But is the increase sustainable? For the new launches it is, because these were launched at corrected price levels post-slowdown, with thin margins for developers.

Source: Hindustan Times The Rising Curve: Residential Prices In Delhi NCR Are Showing An Upward Swing, Thanks To New Launches

Something important/interesting has come up for me and I would not be having much free time now onwards. So I have decided to cut down on a few non-productive activities.

It is the collective effort of citizens which gives a city its character and makes a nation great. Keep raising issues and awareness about what is wrong around you.

Wish all of you the best of luck.

- Fubar

To strengthen the security net and increase the safety of students the Delhi Public School Sector-45 has decided to integrate GSM, GPS and GPRS technology in student I-cards. Talking on the same Asheesh Prasad, administrator of the school said, " This is a small component of hardware which will be attached in the student's identity card and through RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), the student can be tracked in the school campus or school bus. Parents will immediately get the information about their kid. If the student is outside the vicinity of the school or the bus, an alarm will ring in the control room and parents will immediately get an SMS."

What prompted the school to take recourse to such measures? Aditi Mishra, principal of the school informs, "Living in troubled times, we are constantly thinking how to improve the safety and security of the students. Nothing would be better than keeping the parents in direct contact with their children even while they are in the school or travelling in the bus. Besides, we are always open to using any new and innovative measures which could have a positive effect on our students."

   
• Bhuvan, ISRO's free imaging service, can have commercial spinoffs
     
• ISRO hopes to boost its share in the satellite image market
     
• The size of this market in India is estimated to be over Rs 340 crore
     
• These images are used by urban planners and telecom firms

With a resolution of 10 metres offered by Bhuvan, one can clearly see a vehicle the size of a mini van. Google Earth's 200 metres resolution, on the other hand, is just about enough to make out big apartment blocks. Besides that, ISRO also plans to update the images each year. Google Earth does not offer such a service, making its images outdated for a rapidly changing country like India. Bhuvan will focus on the Indian subcontinent and, if all goes well, spread its operations elsewhere. The images will be sourced from ISRO's wide network of satellites that include the Cartosat series and the Indian Mini Satellite.

Bhuvan, says director of National Remote Sensing Centre V. Jayaraman, will be a visualisation tool that will organise available satellite images and overlay them with geographical details in GIS format from the government's database, like those about natural resources. Besides urban areas, the project will also map rural areas. He adds that Bhuvan will respect all rules put down by the Remote Sensing Data Policy. That may mean lowering the resolution of "sensitive locations".

Interestingly, the name Bhuvan was thought of as an effort to bring back attention to the earth after ISRO's recent successful moon mission. "Ultimately, we hope to allow users to mark locations on Bhuvan," states Jayaraman.

R. Siva Kumar, CEO of the government-backed National Spatial Database Infrastructure, says Bhuvan will make geospatial data more accessible and affordable. "With a bird's eye view it will certainly help an individual relate better spatially with his environment, like find out if he or she lives in close proximity to a sewer." The launch of Bhuvan will also benefit experts who would like to make use of free high-resolution images for urban planning and traffic management, besides several other applications.

But will Bhuvan be a worthy competitor for Google? P.K. Roy, editor, Cybermedia Group of publications, doubts so. "It will be difficult to replicate Google's success, for it is not just about providing the images. They need to be translated into a usable context and meaningful form, something that Google Maps and Google Earth have done extremely well," he says. The combined use of the two, allowing maps to be superimposed on satellite images, is becoming popular in India with the increasing use of internet-enabled phones. Google Map Maker was also launched in India in August 2008 and encourages users to identify locations they know on the map.

"We are living in times where mass participation is inevitable. Open mapping is here to stay," says T.P. Venu, senior assistant editor of Geospatial Today, a niche magazine published from Hyderabad. Whether Bhuvan becomes as popular as Google Earth will therefore largely depend on ISRO's capability to convince the growing internet community in India to use it.

At another level, Bhuvan is an attempt to rekindle interest in planned development using satellite images, where ISRO has a 90 per cent domestic market share.

In an attempt to expedite and streamline the work of road repair and reconstruction, the local HUDA authorities have fixed a time frame and put the names and contact numbers of the officials responsible for these works on the official HUDA website.

"The time schedule, along with cost of the special repair work on various roads under our jurisdiction and the names and contact numbers of the JEs and SDOs concerned, is now available on the HUDA website so that everybody can have access to the information about repair of roads in their area," said HUDA administrator G. Anupama in a statement issued here.

It means that any aware resident can now get the latest and relevant information regarding the repair and reconstruction work of roads in his/her area and effectively pursue the matter with the official(s) concerned in the event of any lapse or laxity.

The local administrative authorities were recently under fire from various quarters, including residents' bodies and the media, over the slackness in repair and construction of roads and the execution of other infrastructure developmental activities.

The website will also contain Delhi government's notifications relating to subjects under the Centre's jurisdiction.

 The system, to be maintained by the department of printing and publication of the ministry, will ensure date-wise, month-wise and subject-wise availability of all notifications which contain government policy and directives.

A senior ministry official said the online system was devised to reduce the time lag as well as to facilitate easy accessibility for users all over the country. "It will also ensure transparency," he added.

Presently, gazette notifications are available to the public only after 10-15 days of the date of publication and people across the country have to travel to the state capital to get a copy of the document.

The e-gazette process will also help users for other purposes like research, court cases and settlement of legal documents. A ministry official said that the printed version would continue to remain in vogue while the e-gazette would have its own usefulness.

"We have been trying to provide added amenities to railway passengers for the past few years. It is in this regard that we introduced e-ticketing and ATM kiosks at various stations. The latest was to offer the unified 139 inquiry service through which passengers could get the latest updates on reservation and even book hotels. This project is a continuation of this dedicated Rail Sampark Call Centre services," said a senior IRCTC official.

According to initial plans, the Railways has applied for a dedicated three digit number from the department of Telecommunication. "This number can be used all through the country and will not need a STD code. Once the passenger calls this number, our call centre executives will book an available ticket for him and also arrange for its delivery," added the official. Incidentally, the Rail Sampark Call Centre is one of the biggest call centre facility which can handle up to 2 million calls a day.

The official maintained that the biggest stumbling block in the project remains the mode of payment. "We may initially ask the passengers to pay for the ticket through the railway cash card launched in association with a nationalised bank a few years ago. However, we plan to extend the service to all credit cards once the project kicks off," he said.

Senior Railway officials said such a step will be a major boost for decongesting ticket counters. "Ticket counters of major stations like New Delhi are always crowded. Such a step, thus, will help from the security angle too," said a senior northern Railway official.

Passengers too welcomed the move, but remained sceptical whether railways can deliver the tickets on time. "This will certainly help common passengers as they simply need a telephone instead of a computer to book a ticket. But, we will have to wait and see whether they can deliver the tickets on time," said Prashant Bhatia, a PR executive.

But free legal information for consumers who want to do some research before they visit a lawyer is far less broadly available on the Web. Now services are appearing that may make it easier for consumers to do their own preliminary homework on legal issues in advance of seeking help from a professional.

JDSupra.com, a new site, is stocking a free, virtual law library by persuading lawyers to do something highly unusual: to post examples of their legal work online for use by one and all, no strings attached. Many of the documents are articles and newsletters that can be understood by ordinary mortals who want more background on a legal issue, or who would like to find lawyers with expertise in a particular area.

It works like this: Lawyers who contribute to JD Supra dip into their hard drives for articles, court papers, legal briefs and other tidbits of their craft. They upload the documents, as well as a profile of themselves that is linked to each document. Site visitors who have a legal problem and are thinking about finding a lawyer can use an easily searchable database to look up, say, "trademark infringement," find related documents and, if they like the author's experience and approach, perhaps click on his or her profile.

Contributing lawyers get publicity and credit for the socially useful act of adding to a public database, and visitors get free information, said Aviva Cuyler, a former litigator in Marshall, Calif., who founded the business. "People will still need attorneys," Ms. Cuyler said. "We are not encouraging people to do it themselves, but to find the right people to help them."

The site opened at the end of February and has attracted about 200 contributors, including small, midsize and large firms, as well as academics and groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Cato Institute. The basic service of posting documents and linked profiles is free to these contributors; the site charges $240 a year if contributors want to add links in their profiles to their e-mail addresses, Web sites and blogs. The site will also carry advertisements.

JD Supra is typical of a group of fledgling online legal research services that promise to open a field that was once closed, said David Curle, an analyst at Outsell Inc., a market research firm in Burlingame, Calif., for the professional publishing industry. "There's a real opportunity here in these latent markets as services go beyond lawyer-finding tools" like online lists of attorneys, he said, "particularly in the consumer market, which is wide open."

This was disclosed by Deepak Bansal, technical director, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Haryana, here today. He said after the implementation of the centralised file system, the files would be online and it would help in checking delays. At present, about 2,000 files were being put up in the Haryana civil secretariat daily by officials. While under the present system, it takes about a week to clear the files, the new online system would make their disposal quick.

The move, which comes days after the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was extended to all districts, is aimed at maintaining transparency.

Ministers can now view the progress reports of their states online, monitor implementation of the scheme and address grievances.

The page, a click away from the rural job scheme website www.nrega.nic.in, provides information on the number of employment cards issued in a state, the number of women employed, the progress made and how funds have been used. It also provides a district-wise monthly progress report.

"This detailed information will give ministers a chance to review the work that has been under way in their states. It will also be a step towards eradicating corruption at the district level," a source said.

"Ministers are supposed to meet district-level leaders every quarter and discuss the scheme's progress but unfortunately, that rarely happens."

While announcing the extension of the scheme, rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had confessed that his ministry had received over 165 complaints about its non-implementation.

Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Karnataka are among the best performing states while Bengal and Bihar are at the other end of the spectrum.

E-ticketing kiosks are provided by banks to their customers at railway stations to book tickets through debit card.

The Indian Railways had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Dena Bank to set up 1,392 automated teller machines at railway stations across the country.

Of these, 856 will be e-ticketing kiosks.

Mr M.S. Sundara Rajan, chairman and managing director of Indian Bank, said, "Commuters can now get printed tickets without having to stand in queues at reservation counters. This will help the banks to expand their network into smaller cities and give them a competitive advantage over others."

Indian Bank was the first bank to install an e-ticketing kiosk in December, 2007. It has already set up 10 e-ticketing kiosks and has plans to set up 24 more within a year.

The Union Bank of India too set up its first e-ticketing kiosk at Delhi in December and is gearing up to set up similar facilities.

As a gesture from the MCF showing its intent of public participation in the develoment process, the civic body got the website launched by five elderly residents.

The progressive work done by by MCF in getting the website lauched was however marred by incorrect data as much information was outdated. They mainly concerned with the posting of the officials.

For example, Sunita Verma, who is now a city magistrate of Faridabad, continues with her old posting as joint commissioner, Faridabad.

Anil Sharma, who is no more as joint commissioner of Ballabgarh Zone, continues to be posted at the seat. The latest fact is that Pushpidner Singh Chauhan is the joint commissioner, Ballabgarh. Inder Kumar Bishnoi who is no more joint commissioner of NIT zone continues to be so as per the website. The fact is that B.S Kali Raman is the present incumbent.

Also, Sujan Singh Yadav continues to be the MCF's secretary while the post is presently vacant.

Another howler is with regard to the name of N.K.Katara. Although he is now the chief engineer of the civic body, he is presented with his old designation of superintending engnieer in the website. There are several cases in which personnel have been projected with their old designation though they have been promoted. Rajeev Goyal continues to be assistant engineer even though he has left the civic body on retirement.

With the beginning of the new system, residents will not have to go to police stations time and again to get their complaints registered as they will have access to every service of the department just by clicking a button of the cellphone.

Gurgaon police commissioner Mohinder Lal said the department was making arrangements to provide all emergency services to the residents on a call to the control room. After the introduction of this facility, a person could lodge his complaint, know about the status of his case, or even the status of his passport and licence, just by sending an SMS to the control room.

Lal said the internal set-up of the police was also being modified. CCTVs would be installed at various important places to trap traffic rule violators. The GPS would be installed in all police vehicles to monitor their movement.