Ministry of Defence has signed an MoU with eGov Foundation for online management of Cantonment Boards. The joint initiative sees Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE), Ministry of Defence and eGov Foundation working together to drive e-governance and improved citizen services across all 62 cantonment boards in the country
The MoU was signed between DGDE and eGov Foundation to implement a cloud-based platform to deliver various citizen services under the program named e-Chhawani. The MoU was signed over a video conference with dignitaries from eGov Foundation and DGDE.
Meeting the mandate of Cantonment Boards towards citizen-centric service delivery, this move will stoke cantonment board’s commitment to enhanced governance through improved delivery of services via multiple channels and ease of access of all Cantonment Board-related information online.
This blend of technological intervention and administrative reform will be achieved through DIGIT (Digital Infrastructure for Governance, Impact & Transformation), India’s largest open source platform for urban governance. The application suite includes dashboards, web portals, property tax, miscellaneous collection, trade license, public grievance redressal system, fire NoC system, water and sewerage charges, online building permission system and finance and accounting system.
In the event of signing the MoU, Deepa Bajwa, Director General Defence Estates stated, “This initiative undertaken with eGov Foundation will help us enhance the harmonious relationship between the cantonment boards and the public we serve. With DIGIT platform, we aim at having uniform and well-defined work procedures, delivery of all services within pre-defined timelines, effective grievance redressal mechanism, a centralized decision support system to monitor and evaluate the performance of all offices and enhanced transparency for the public in availing services.”
Viraj Tyagi, CEO, eGov Foundation, expressed, “We are excited to be partnering with DGDE in their major administrative reform in Cantonment Board administration. At eGov Foundation, our mission is to improve the quality of life in India’s cities and towns by enabling responsive and reliable local services through our open platform -DIGIT. With this partnership, we aim at connecting citizens and bringing them closer to government services and improving the accountability and capacity of cantonment boards by providing them tools and data to their jobs more efficiently.”
