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Sankar Radhakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan. 12 Encouraged by the response to its ‘Dr SMS’ mobile-governance project in Kozhikode, the Kerala State Information Technology Mission plans to expand this project and launch several similar projects.

The State’s mobile governance or m-governance initiative is based on the premise that mobile phones can be used to provide a range of Government-related services and information to the public, Dr Ajay Kumar, Secretary (Information Technology), Government of Kerala, told Business Line.

Over the next couple of months, the ‘Dr SMS’ project will be rolled-out to some more districts, he said. The project, launched in Kozhikode early last year, enables people to use their mobile phones to get information on healthcare facilities such as hospitals, pharmaceutical stores and so on in the district.

People in Kozhikode need to send an SMS to a special number with the postal code of the locality they want information on and they will receive the relevant details by SMS, he explained.

Meanwhile, the IT Mission has also identified around 20 services from eight government departments which it believes can be covered by the m-governance project, Dr Ajay Kumar said. The Kerala Public Service Commission, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, Kerala State Electricity Board and Kerala Water Authority are some of the government departments identified for implementation of the m-governance project.

For instance, people could use their mobile phone to obtain the long-distance bus schedules of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation or to monitor complaints made to the Kerala Water Authority.

Similarly, the IT Mission is also working on developing an ‘e-payment’ system for the State Government, he said. This system will enable people to make online payments to the Government. The idea is to make this system “bank neutral” so that customers of any bank can make online payments, he added.

More Stories on : E-Governance | M-Commerce | Kerala

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