Transparency and efficiency through extensive use of technology has become the fundamental principle of all reforms in the governance today. Though financial sphere of governance has been transforming very rapidly throughout the country, basic administrative aspects and office procedures, being much more complicated, perhaps have taken a back seat.
Considering this situation, Dhule district administration along with all line departments have taken many e-governance initiatives in last one year. Their implementation is helping not just citizens but also District Collector and all concerned officers to ensure above mentioned basic principles of democratic administration. These initiatives can be replicated in every district as they are, with some cosmetic changes. One of these initiatives is ‘RFID Card and QR code based Household-level Multipurpose Tracking System (RHoMuTS)’.
This system envisions rigidly fixing an geotagged RFID card having a QR code on inner side of main door of each household within the jurisdiction of the Local Body. The copy of this QR Code is stuck also on the two dustbins (Wet and Dry waste dustbins as available) of each household.
After this, the database with sufficient details for each household is created through the software with reference to the geotagged RFID card. The staff of Sanitation Department (Drivers of Ghantaagaadi), Taxation Department (Bill Collector, Bill Inspectors, Property Surveyors etc.), Health Department (ANM, Asha etc.) and any other department are given mobiles/tabs that can read QR codes or RFID cards (these are available at a cost of less than Rs. 5000 today).
By creating suitable online/offline survey formats as prescribed by the government, the facility for which has been readily provided in the software, any activity like door-to-door waste collection, 100% coverage of properties for taxation, 100% survey of all households for various health parameters like vaccinations and all mother-child development services can be perfectly tracked using Google Maps. One can see a suitably indexed Google map to find out left-out beneficiaries of any survey. This is indeed a revolutionary solution to assess and find out gaps in the delivery system.
This has been implemented at all five urban bodies of Dhule district. Dondaicha (around 50 thousand population), Shirpur (around 80 thousand population) and Sakri (around 25 thousand population) Municipal Councils are already at advanced stages of its execution in very small time. Dhule Municipal Corporation (around 4 lakh population) and Shindkheda (around 25 thousand population) Municipal Council have also started its execution. This has been achieved at a very low cost using funds of 14th Finance Commission as per the rules of Government of Maharashtra.
