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Bengal

Govt to provide smartphones to panchayats for tracking developmental work

In a bid to keep a track on the progress of various development works taking place across West Bengal, the state government has decided to provide smart phones to all the panchayats.

It may be mentioned that West Bengal is the first state in the country to introduce the hi-tech system of monitoring the progress of work through panchayats.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the scale of development work that has taken place in the past four and half years after the change of guard in the state, a minimum percentage of it had not taken place in the regime of the Left Front.

Going a step ahead the system has been introduced so that the sanctioned projects get completed within the stipulated time.

The state government has decided to provide smart phones initially to the gram panchayats in seven districts. There are around 1000 gram panchayats in the seven districts which would get the phones first and start uploading the updated information about the ongoing projects in their respective areas. The GPS system will also be used to get details of a project using smart phones. The rest of the 2,300 gram panchayats in the state will get the smart phones in phases.

Each of the phones cost Rs 5,000 and the State government has decided to invest Rs 1.65 crore for the project.

According to the experts in e-governance, the system will ensure that people, especially in the rural parts of the state, will not get deprived of any benefits. A villager will not need to run from pillar to post for completion of construction of road to a government official. The reason being the progress of work will get monitored through the smart phones and concerned officials will be pulled up if a work does not get completed within the stipulated time. The State government had set up Uttar Kanya in Siliguri for better implementation of development work and administration in North Bengal districts and now the smart phones to panchayats have once again bridged the gap between the State government and the beneficiaries.

This has been done as the Oppositions are spreading canard against the State government saying that no development has been carried out in the rural areas.

The steps taken by the Panchayat and Rural Development department to set up roads have changed lives of rural populace. Nadia has been declared as open defecation-free district followed by North 24-Parganas and Hooghly. 
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