City is digitally handicapped

Hyderabad might boast of a Hitech City, but when it comes to its government offices, the IT hub fails to impress. Despite being “fully computerised” a few years ago, Hyderabadis complain that few government officials actually know how to operate computers or access digital data.

Anamika G., a BDS graduate who went to the AP State Dental Council at Afzalgunj to get herself registered, was shocked to find that they still relied on hand-written records to enter data on newly registered dentists in the state. “It is mandatory for all the qualified dentists in the state to register themselves with the Council. But when I went there, the process took forever. The data is still stored in files and registers,” she says.

However, Dr Mahendranath Reddy, president, AP State Dental Council, says, “We have all the required software in place. The problem is we don’t have enough funds to put it all together.”

The GHMC on the other hand, which is entirely computerised, doesn’t have trained personnel to operate the systems. When Radakrishnan Nair, a resident of Bolarum, received a notice from the GHMC, informing him that his house tax had not been paid for over two years, he was taken aback. “I had all the receipts to prove that I had paid the taxes on time. But the GHMC authorities claimed they couldn’t find my name in the computer, hence my receipts were invalid. When I went to the GHMC office and demanded proof, I was surprised to see them ruffling through a huge stack of papers. They kept insisting my name wasn’t in the ‘computer’,” he says, adding, “When I asked the officer incharge to run a computer search, he claimed that the papers were printouts taken from the computer. They obviously didn’t know how to operate the system and hadn’t ever heard of ctrl+F!”

But the GHMC is quick to pass the buck. Rajeshwar Rao, GHMC Additional Commissioner (IT), says, “We have ensured that every circle has trained clerks to operate these systems. But, taxes come under the finance department and you should check with them.” However, Ramesh Babu, additional commissioner (finance), puts the blame squarely on the IT department.

Surprisingly, even the Central Crime Records Bureau has limited digital access. While the department is computerised they don’t have online facilities, which sometimes poses to be a problem while relaying messages to other departments. “For inter-department communication we use the intranet. However, if we have to send details to someone else outside the department, we are forced to do so manually,” says Sharad Kumar, inspector of police, detective department.

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