Punjab govt to deliver public services through 'Mobile Seva'

Chandigarh: Punjab Government on Sunday announced that it will integrate 'Mobile Seva' scheme in all the state departments aiming at mainstreaming mobile governance as a compelling new paradigm for the delivery of public services.

An official spokesperson said today that five departments from the state have already integrated their services with 'Mobile Seva'.

He said the Punjab Government has decided that SMS services will be offered free of cost to government departments during the current duration of the 'Mobile Seva' project.

He said the 'Mobile Seva' is a countrywide initiative on mobile governance that aims to enable all government departments and agencies to provide services on various mobile channels such as short message service (SMS), integrated voice response system (IVRS), unstructured supplementary service data and mobile applications.

Over 1050 departments/agencies across central, state and local governments have adopted 'Mobile Seva' and more than 335 public services are live through the short and long codes, he said.

The initiative by the central government aims at mainstreaming mobile governance in the country as a compelling new paradigm for delivery of public services electronically through the mobile platform.

Government departments and agencies at central, state and local levels touch over 1.2 billion citizens in their day-to-day lives, he said.

Implementation of the 'Seva' is expected to bring all these government departments and agencies on to this common platform and reach over 900 million mobile subscribers in the country with public services, he said.