For UT, Patil still Administrator, KK Sharma the Adviser!

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 30

Shivraj V Patil continues to be the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator while KK Sharma is still the Adviser to the UT Administrator! As the UT is gearing up to compete with 100 cities for a position among the top 20 under the Smart City Mission, the online directory of the centrally administered UT has a different story to tell.

Not only the top brass, even names of bureaucrats and officers of the state civil services, who have long been transferred or repatriated to their parent states, still find mention against the posts occupied by new officers in the online directory.

Information displayed on the websites of different departments of the Administration such as the IT, Health, Education, Election, Public Relations and Municipal Corporation is not so “smart”.

Besides the online directory, the smart city app is also not so smart as it also mentions names of officials who are no more posted in the city.

If this was not enough, it seems the UT Administration has not considered the thumping victory of Kirron Kher over Pawan Kumar Bansal with a margin of 69,642 votes in the last Lok Sabha elections as the online telephone directory still shows Pawan Kumar Bansal as the Union Railway Minister and local Member of Parliament.

Instead of Vijay Kumar Dev, who is regularly visiting different parts of the city, KK Sharma is still holding the charge of the UT Adviser in the online telephone directory. This information is displayed in the telephone directory on the website chdpr.gov.in of the UT Administration.

The information on the website of the Department of Information Technology is also not updated. In the website, it has been mentioned that projects such as amusement-cum-theme park, film city and medicity are being set up in Chandigarh. However, these projects have already been scrapped. The Supreme Court has already quashed the land acquisition for phase III of the IT Park, but in the website it has been mentioned that: “The land for this phase is under acquisition, which is likely to be completed shortly.”

In the website of the Department of Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, MM Sabharwal has still been shown as the Director, Public Relations (DPR), whereas he has already retired and at present Navjor Kaur is holding the charge of the DPR.

On the website of the Election Department, Tilak Raj is still the Joint Chief Electoral Officer whereas he has been repatriated to his parent state Haryana and at present the post is being held by Kashish Mittal.

MC website no different

The situation on the website of the Municipal Corporation is no different. Poonam Sharma was elected as city Mayor in January but till date her official message is yet to be uploaded on the MC website. The website still shows Vivek Pratap Singh as the MC Commissioner whereas currently Bhawna Garg is holding the post. Under the category of “Fresh status of projects of the MC”, the information displayed is of 2010. Similarly, Sunil Bhatia has been shown as the Additional Commissioner, MC, whereas he was repatriated to his parent state Punjab on June 19.

Police website updated

The website of the Chandigarh Police is updated on a daily basis with copies of FIRs registered at all police stations uploaded on it every day. The statistics of different crimes is also updated frequently on the website, enabling the users to have a knowhow of the latest figures.

Education Dept website: Some numbers do not exist

On the official website of the UT Education Department, Sandeep Hans is still the Director, Higher Education, even though the charge has been taken over by Kamlesh Kumar Bhadoo recently. Some important telephone numbers mentioned in the telephone directory do not exist. The department, however, is regularly updating the website.

RLA website user-friendly

Unlike other departments, the website of the Registration and Licensing Authority (RLA) is regularly updated and is user-friendly. The website not only shows the present status of the applications but also gives information about taxes for the registration of new vehicles and vehicles from other states. The site also provides alerts on the auction of vanity numbers of new series and facilities such as mock tests.

With inputs from Amit Sharma and Bipin Bhardwaj

GMSH, Sector 16, website not updated since 2013

Ritika Jha Palial

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 30

The UT Health Department, that aspires to start an e-hospital system involving complete computerisation of records, is struggling to update its official website regularly. The website, that primarily provides information pertaining to Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, has not been updated since 2013.

The website still mentions that the 24-hour emergency enquiry (control room) is located near the gynae ward towards the rear gate of the hospital. The counter was relocated to the main entry of the general emergency (located at the other extreme of the hospital) in December 2013.

 The link provided for information on the nursing college on the home page shows the admission notice for 2012-13 as the latest admission notice.

 During his maiden visit to the GMSH in February this year, UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev had announced that the online appointment facility for OPDs and other computerisation projects would be launched by the end of the year.

 However, the hospital has been lagging behind in terms of computerisation. Even the OPD registration counters do not have the mechanism to store the database of patients and cards are issued manually.

UT Health Secretary Anurag Aggarwal said, “We are hoping to complete the e-office project at the GMCH, Sector 32, within two months. Following that the same team will work on the computerisation of the GMSH-16. The e-hospital project will involve online storage of all patient data such as lab reports, registrations, payments and pharmacy stocks.”