Bengal to set up single mobile platform for smartphone users

The state government is going to introduce a mobile application for smart phone users. The app will provide an easy access to various state government run e-services on a single platform.

With clicking the app, the smartphone users will get various e-service options – education, industry and commerce, health, civic services, urban development, municipal affairs, flood related information, tourism and many more.

The Bengal government has already touched a milestone in creating an e-governance platform which won the National Award.

Application for opting for most of government run services can be registered online via e-governance. Applications can be downloaded from the website of State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG), which is completely an e-platform. The e-governance of the state is an exemplary digital development.

But with the development of the app to give away the same services via smart phones, it will take the state to a new high believe the senior officers of information technology department.

The cost of the project is Rs 7 crore approximately.

"The intention of the project is to bring all the e-governance related services including citizens' service, investors help desk to drag in a common platform. It will be a platform that aggregates different e-services in one place, across categories like e-tendering, e-booking, downloading application forms, getting important information from multiple government departments," said an IT department source.

But how will it work? The source explained, it would be helpful for those people who generally visit many websites to get the knowledge of government-run services. They log in to those websites with creating usernames and setting their own passwords. This new app will gather all such services in a single platform, so that a user would only have to download the app. He will create his own user name and password. The person will able to avail all those services from the single platform.

Some of the organisation under the state government has already prepared their own smart phone app. Those services can also be availed by the new app, the source further added.

But what will happen to the non smart phone users? "They should not be panicked. The basic services can be done via cell phone delivery channels," he said.

The popular mobile phone delivery channels are SMS, missed call services, Outbound Dialler (OBD), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) and many others.