Prithviraj Chavan likely to outdo Narendra Modi in e-governance

The incineration of umpteen crucial files and documents in the devastating fire of June 2012 at the Mantralaya brought a lot of heat the state government's way. Learning a lesson from it, the administration created multiple backups of records, and in the process Maharashtra has become not just the only state in India with cloud setup, but has also emerged as first runner-up in terms of e-transactions.

While Maharashtra has registered 17.55 crore e-transactions this year, Gujarat tops list with 23.12 crore. File pic

The state information technology department's endeavours appear to have paid off with consistent efforts to embrace e-governance. Current data shows that the Democratic Front government has created 27,717 e-files with 20 departments at Mantralaya, adopting new technology that eliminates time consumed in processing documents that then gather dust in various offices for years on end.

Sharing information on the achievements, IT department secretary Rajesh Aggarwal said that owing to attempts made during the last two-three years, the ministries picked up as many as 47 honours at the Skoch Digital Inclusion Awards. "We hope to attain the top rank soon, as almost 8 crore e-transactions are in the pipeline and may ensue within a few months," said Aggarwal. While Maharashtra has, from January 1 to September 6 this year,u00a0registered 17.55 crore e-transactions, Gujarat tops the list with 23.12 crore.

The state data centre, set up at the new administrative building opposite Mantralaya, has cloud computing infrastructure on VMware and MS Hyper-V. It has storage capacity of 86 TB and 39 rackspace hosting ability. With multiple backups there is no possibility of losing any crucial data. Each paper at Mantralaya is being scanned and stored for future reference, said the secretary. Elaborating on the accomplishments, Aggarwal said the state has likely saved Rs 4,000 crore by going for the e-tendering process, which is mandatory for all departments that want to go for a tender priced at above Rs 10 lakh.

Picture of good health
Meanwhile, the Skoch Awards list says that the state wing of the public health department that implements National Rural Health Mission secured third position for its ASHA programme. The centre for excellence in Marathi language attained the 10th position and the state excise department grabbed the 12th spot for comprehensive transformation. The awards were received by IT department secretary Rajesh Aggarwal, state excise commissioner Dr Sanjay Mukherjee and other government representatives.

Rs 4,000 crore
Approximate amount the state government has saved so far by going for e-tendering

27,717
Number of e-files created by various departments of the state government so faru00a0