The city’s councillors are all set to get hi-tech. In a first, the Kochi Corporation is providing laptops to all councillors as part of its e-governance programme.
According to officials, the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project’s (KSUDP) ‘capacity building’ funds will be used to buy the laptops from KELTRON.
“KSUDP has given the green signal to buy the computers. Once the (cost) estimate and other modalities are worked out, the proposal will be submitted for approval to the state-level empowered committee chaired by Minister for Local Self-Government. We hope the project can be implemented within two months,” a top civic administrator said.
The councillors have the option to choose between a laptop and a tablet PC, the administrator said.
While the Corporation would own the computers, councillors are required to hand them back to the civic body once their term is over.
Besides laptops, office computers will be issued to all Corporation staff as part of e-governance programme.
“Councillors and the staff are major stakeholders of the programme and they need to be equipped to integrate to the new system of administration,” the source said.
According to the official, the councillors will be imparted intensive training to enable them to effectively use their devices and KELTRON would give basic awareness training programme on using Internet and email.
Tata Consultancy Services, meanwhile, is set to impart the next level of training in software.
Once the programme is implemented, the agenda of committee and council meetings, besides other important data, will be emailed to the staff and councillors.
“TCS is in the final stages of developing the software for e-governance programme,” the official said. “We hope the local body will be able to implement the programme by July.”