Automation fails at Ernakulam Collectorate

KOCHI: Introduced four years ago, the automation of Ernakulam Collectorate has reached nowhere due to the apathy of the employees.All these four years, the authorities could do nothing to ensure that DC Suite, the programme implemented jointly by the state government and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for automation of all the sections under the modernising government programme (MGP), attains its objective.The project, which costs Rs 4.5 crore, aims at improving the service of employees and workflow-based file management. If the project was implemented properly, the public wouldn't have frequented the Collectorate to check the status of a file.Using the internet, they would have been able to know the current status of the file and measures taken by the authorities.Though almost all the employees at the Collectorate have got the training in this regard, all the sections except the Revenue Recovery still continue with physical files.The employees complain that the absence of a government order making e-filing mandatory stands in the way of automation. It was in July 2005 that the project was planned for the Collectorate. DC Suite was inaugurated with much hype in January 2007 and around 400 employees were given training.Of the 14 districts, the project has been implemented only in Malappuram, Thrissur and Palakkad.