New Delhi: Encouraged by usage of the provisions of Right to Information Act (RTI), the Government has decided to set up a state-of-the-art call centre and an interactive website to facilitate easy exchange of information related to the transparency law to citizens.
The project was envisaged after taking insights from a government study which highlighted inconvenience faced by citizens in exercising their rights to information.
According to an official of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the RTI Call Centre and Portal Project is aimed at improving access for illiterate and rural citizens with the help of information and communication technology.
The DoPT, which act as the nodal department of the government responsible for providing administrative support for implementation of RTI Act, on Monday issued a request for proposal for its ambitious project.
As per the proposal, a selected agency will set up, operate and maintain RTI call centre to facilitate voice calls, SMS and Inter Voice Response System managed calls; develop, implement and maintain RTI portal, provisioning of data centre disaster recovery services for hosting of the portal and training to government personnel.
The agreement will initially be of five and a half years (66 months). Of these, six months shall be for design, development and implementation of the project, and operations and maintenance phase for call centre and portal shall be for a period of five years from the date of "Go-Live".
Further, stabilisation period shall be for the three months from the date of "Go-Live".
The DoPT may extend the term of the agreement for further period of two years.
The RTI Act, which came into force on October 12, 2005, empowers citizens to seek information from a public authority.
PTI
