• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

L.N. Revathy

COIMBATORE, June 23

IF you thought that only banks published the names of wilful defaulters, think again.

The Coimbatore Corporation's e-governance portal is proactive, publicising the property tax defaulters' list, apart from a host of other issues, including flash news.

What was hitherto considered a laborious task, getting the property tax defaulters' list is now possible with just a click of a button. With the data in place, the Corporation is confident of improving its tax receipts in the coming months.

That is not all. While the Corporation is ready to nab the defaulter, the interactive portal also seeks to offer an opportunity to the residents to track papers, be it building plan or any other document, submitted to the Corporation and ascertain the status, monitor infrastructure works, track garbage lifting works, online tendering etc.

The activation of the portal appears to have kindled the common man's interest in using technology to tackle `tax'ing jobs. This was the observation made by the developers of the portal, the Coimbatore-based KGISL, after taking into account the daily hit-rate and site-access details.

While providing the municipal citizens round-the-clock access to Corporation services through the Internet, the solution accomplishes the vital link between the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation central office and its various zonal and sub-zonal facilitation centres to integrate functions at all sites.

Further, the system integrates all departments such as engineering, public health, town planning, accounts, establishment, payroll, human resources etc., to facilitate online payment of dues, filing and settlement of complaints and grievances, tracking of building plans, registration of birth and death certificates and issuance, monitoring of infrastructure works, online tendering and tracking of garbage lifting.

In a recent move, the payment gateway between the banks (IDBI and Indian Bank) have been established and tested. Reliable sources told this correspondent that the system would be operationalised as soon as the official go-ahead was given.

Talking about the project, Mr Ashok Bakthavatsalam, Managing Director, KGISL, told Business Line that this e-governance portal was developed using the latest in communication and software technologies making it a unique one in the country..

He explained that a wide area network (WAN) link was established between the central office and its four zonal and sub-zonal facilitation centres through a secure 11 Mbps radio frequency network providing uninterrupted flow of information between these centres along with a 128 kbps Internet connectivity at each of these places. `The radio frequency network is more efficient', he added.

The Centralized Transaction Server incorporated the latest in Web and Application Server technologies using SOAP and XML technologies.

(SOAP or Simple Object Access Protocol is a lightweight, XML-based protocol for exchanging information in a decentralized, distributed environment. It provides for interoperability between a wide range of programs and platforms, making existing applications accessible to a broader range of users).

According to Mr Ashok, this was the first e-governance portal to leverage the advantages of a SOAP-based architecture. Explaining the significance of SOAP, he pointed out that most development efforts were directed towards building applications using local services.

He assured that his company was ready to offer the package on a turnkey basis to all corporations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Tata Tele to add 12 more cell sites in Karnataka

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line