E-Governance

Need for e-Governance
Transport Infrastructure is one of the important modes of communication system widely used by people. Of the three modes of transport available i.e. air, rail and roads, road transport has occupied a special place so far as development is concerned, because it connects people at the grass root level with the main stream of the nation. Road transport has been accorded a high priority in all the plans since India's independence. The economic development of our country is largely dependent upon the transport infrastructure. The growth and development of different sectors of the economy is highly dependent on improved transport infrastructure. Recent studies showed that out of the three modes of communication, road transport has made a tremendous growth as compared to the others. In fact road transport is the only mode of communication in our state.

The tremendous growth of the automobile sector has provided a lot of comforts and luxuries to the common man. With the enormous increase in the number of vehicles, management of the overall monitoring system has become a big problem for the government. The transport department is essentially a revenue collecting and regulatory department, and the most important function of the department is to collect the road taxes or fines from the vehicles. The District Transport Officers ensure that the tax collection and registration of vehicles are regularized in the districts. Beside vehicles which are not registered in the district, but opting to pay tax are also entertained for the tax deposit irrespective of where they are registered. Another important function of the transport department is the demand of tax from tax defaulters. However detection of tax defaulters and adopting appropriate measures to recover the dues has always been a tedious process for the transport department, due to the heavy workload. The other functions of vital nature of the transport department are Registration of Vehicles, Issue of Driving License, Issue of Permits, etc.

The number of motor vehicles in Meghalaya has increase tremendously, as a result work pressure in the transport department has increase drastically. In order to manage the increasing number of vehicles efficiently, it is highly recommended to adopt some man - machine interface for the smooth functioning of the department. Monitoring a variety of on-going activities of the transport department, timely realisation of tax from the ever increasing number of vehicles has become a problem, unmanageable by human beings alone. Moreover, delay in issuing tax tokens and recovery of arrears have almost jeopardized the existing system.

Hence, it cannot be denied that Computerisation is the only answer to solve these intricacies. The Transport Computerisation Project was taken up with the objective to provide fast, reliable, transparent and efficient service to the Citizens and also effective control to the Government.

Areas of Computerisation
A feasibility study of the existing system has brought out the following areas where Information Technology can be applied in the transport department :

1. Vehicle Registration
  • Online Registration of vehicles with system assigned Registration number and issue of Computerised registration certificate.
  • Booking and Allocation of Fancy Registration Number on demand.
  • Re-Registration of Vehicles after expiry of registration valid date.
  • Issue of Duplicate Registration Certificate.
  • Re-registration of Vehicles from other states.
  • Transfer of Ownership.
  • Change of Address.
  • Conversion of Vehicles.
  • Alteration in Motor Vehicles.
  • Endorsement of Non-use vehicles and surrender of documents.
  • Endorsement of Hypothecation/Lease/Hire-Purchase.
  • Termination of Hypothecation/Lease/Hire-Purchase.
  • Issue of Vehicle Fitness Certificate.
  • Issue of No Objection Certificate.

2. Tax Realisation
  • Online collection of Tax for all type of Vehicles.
  • Penalty on tax defaulters, additional tax if applicable.
  • Installment payment of tax.
  • Issue of duplicate tax token.
  • Preparation of Demand Notice for tax Defaulters.

3. Enforcement
  • Challaning of Vehicles under the Motor Vehicle Acts.
  • Impounding of Motor Vehicles.
  • Compounding of Motor Vehicles.
  • Disposal of Challan.

4. Driving Licence
  • Issue of Learner's Licence.
  • Renewal of Learner's Licence.
  • Issue of Driving Licence.
  • Renewal of Driving Licence.
  • Inclusion of Additional Category of Driving Licence.
  • Issue of Duplicate Driving Licence.

5. Reports
  • Accounting of Daily Collection as trax and various fees.
  • Reconciliation of accounts at the end of a day.
  • Report on list of Certificate of Fitness.
  • Various Adhoc queries and their reports.

6. Permits
  • Issue of National, Stage Carriage, Contract Carriage, Goods Carriage Permit.
  • Renewal of authorisation for Permit.
  • Renewal of Permit.
  • Cancellation of Permit.
  • Conversion of vehicles.
  • Replacement of Vehicles.
  • Inclusion of State.
  • Transfer of Ownership of Permit.
  • Daily Accounting.
  • State Wise Accounting.

7. Miscellaneous
  • Payroll Accounting System.
  • Personnel Information System.
  • Material Management System,
  • Monitoring Financial / Physical Achievement.

Inauguration of District Transport Office, Shillong

The District Transport Office, Shillong of the Government of Meghalaya has gone online with the inauguration of the computerisation of this office by the Hon?ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Dr. F. A. Khonglam on the 15th April 2002 by accepting the fee for new vehicle registration and then printing a new Registration Certificate. The National Informatics Centre, Meghalaya State Unit and the Transport Informatics Group, N.I.C. Headquarter have jointly computerized the office.

Dr. F. A. Khonglam, performing the first online transaction Inauguration of e-Governance in DTO Shillong

In the process the District Transport Office, Shillong has also become the first District Transport Office, not only in Meghalaya, but also in North East India, to have online computerization. Meanwhile, the Meghalaya Transport Department has also undertaken to computerise other D.T.O. offices in the State. The computerisation of DTO offices in Meghalaya will not only help improve the services being rendered to the members of the public, but also serve as a safeguard against those who seek to bypass the law. This in turn would improve revenue collection, bring about better office management and help plug whatever loopholes, which may be there.

With E-governance gaining in importance, the increased use of computers in government offices also seek to de-mystify work in such establishments and also bring about transparency, help the members of the public gain more access to relevant information, speed up delivery of services and expedite redress of public grievances.

Speaking on the occasion the Meghalaya Chief Minister, Dr. F. A Khonglam said with the advent of the Information technology, every effort should be made to make use of such devices for improving public and better citizen services. He said that the government is also considering to computerise more government departments especially those pertaining to finance to not only plug loopholes, but also prevent leakage of revenue and minimise man power requirements and expenditure

Among those who spoke were the Transport Commissioner & Secretary, Mr. A. K. Bhalla, IAS, Mr. F. G. Momin, Commissioner of Transport, Mr. Timothy Dkhar, State Informatics Officer, National Informatics Centre, Meghalaya State Unit and Mr. J. P. Kukrety, Technical Director, Transport Informatics Group, N.I.C. Headquarter. New Delhi