Kasargod district to get rare recognition

Kasargod, May 28: Kasargod district will have the rare recognition of becoming the first district in the country where all the local bodies are computerised to conduct their financial transactions.

The facility is expected to be launched by the second week of June. The Saankhya software, developed by the Information Kerala Mission (IKM), will provide details of cash book, bank book, balance sheet income and expenditure statement, receipt and payment statement, trial balance, bank reconciliation statement, journal book and ledgers.

The project has already been implemented in all the 65 urban local bodies, 345 grama panchayats, 13 block panchayts and 12 district panchayats.

IKM executive director M Shamsuddin said that the aim is to complete the project in the whole of Kasargod, which will make it the first district in the country to complete the e-governance programme. The project will be implemented in all the local bodies in the state by the end of this year. “With the implementation of the project in all the local bodies, Kerala will become the first state in the country where all the transactions are computerised. The hand ritten registers will disappear in these local bodies with the completion of the project,'' Shamsuddin said.

Local Self-Government principal secretary James Varghese said that Kasargod is all set to become the first district in the country where the software of IKM is installed at all the local bodies for data entry of financial transaction. Internet facility is being provided at all the local bodies, except Kadamakudi grama panchayat where there is no electric power supply, to ensure that the e-governance programme is implemented soon, he said. After the implementation of the Saankhya project in urban local bodies, the Local Self-Government department detected certain lapses in these local bodies.

Following this, Local Self Government principal secretary James Varghese instructed all secretaries of the local bodies to submit printouts of the financial statements relating to the previous month to the director of urban affairs by the 20th of every month.

The e-filing system for architecture registration and building permits will also be launched next month. Payment of building tax through e-payment has already been introduced in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kozhikode corporations and Kasargod, Ottappalam and Kanjangad municipalities along with Manjeshwaram and Thumpamon grama panchayats. IKM has also developed a software which enables the public to track the details of any application they have submitted to the local bodies. Touchscreen systems will be introduced at all the local bodies to enable the public to know the status of their applications and other services.