Punjab State

In a significant stride towards professional development and knowledge enhancement, NIC Punjab successfully organized a three-day Training Programme-cum-Workshop. This transformative event took place at the esteemed MGSIPA (Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration) in Chandigarh, commencing on the 25th of October 2023 and concluding on the 27th of October 2023. The workshop, presided over by Sh. Vivek Verma, the distinguished SIO Punjab, was a platform for learning, collaboration, and growth.

Day 1 (25th Oct, 2023)

The inaugural session on the 25th of October, 2023, was graced by the esteemed presence of the Guest of Honour Sh. Inder Pal Singh Sethi, Deputy Director General (DDG) & State Coordinator of NIC Punjab.

The workshop was graced by the Chief Guest Sh. Tejveer Singh, the Chief Guest of the event and the Principal Secretary, Department of Governance Reforms Punjab. His participation added a State Government perspective to the workshop, emphasizing the vision and commitment of the government in fostering ICT system, professional growth and expertise in the state.

The Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour were received by Sh. Vivek Verma, SIO and Sh. Vikram Jeet Grover, ASIO (State) and were presented with bouquet of flowers.

In the beginning of the workshop State Training Coordinator, Sh. Sanjay Sawhney, Director(IT) & Scientist-E welcomed all the participants to this educational endeavourand informed the benefits of this workshop. The ceremonial inauguration of the workshop was graced by the e-lighting of a lamp, a symbol of knowledge and enlightenment. It was accompanied by a soul-soothing recitation of Ganesh Prayer by Sh. Sanjay Sawhney, State Training Coordinator, further invoking blessings for the success of the workshop.

With the guidance of Sh. Vivek Verma, the support of Sh. IPS Sethi, and the patronage of Sh. Tejveer Singh, this event is poised to make a lasting impact on the informatics landscape of Punjab and beyond. This training initiative aims to enhance the skills and knowledge of the DIOs, equipping them with the latest tools, techniques, and best practices to further empower their respective districts in this digital age.

Sh. Vivek Verma, SIO & DDG, NIC Punjab welcomed the Chief Guest and the State Coordinator, NIC Punjab. In his welcome address, he highlighted the importance of this workshop and how it will be helpful for DIOs in providing the ICT services to District Administration. SIO Punjab thanked Sh. Tejveer Singh, PS DGR for his guidance and support in carry out ICT services in the state. He also thanked the DIOs for continuous IT support and their advisory role for making the things easier for district administration. Further he added that through this workshop, we aim to equip DIOs with the knowledge and tools necessary to serve their districts better, ensuring efficient and technology-driven governance.

In his inaugural address, Sh. Inder Pal Singh Sethi, State Coordinator of Punjab shared his experiences of other states as State Coordinator of Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Telangana. He appreciated NIC Punjab for its contributions in various projects like e-office, iHRMS, IFMS, Service Plus and many more. While sharing his experience of Manav Sampada, he told how NIC Punjab customized it for its roll out in Punjab. He shared his vision of NextGen digital Punjab, where online services are being rolled out to ensure the utmost satisfaction of our citizens. He highlighted upon the importance of "Cashless, Faceless" service delivery approach, in alignment with the citizen's needs where citizen has minimum interaction with any office physically. He also emphasized the significance of "Know Your Entitlement" (KYE) as a guiding principle for our endeavours.

He advised to make teams including officers of state and districts for important projects to leverage the capabilities of all officers in order to provide effective ICT services. He also advised that all the projects and services should not run in silos, there should be proper communication between them. He expressed his trust that Punjab will move further way forward under the guidance of Principal Secretary, Department of Governance Reforms Punjab. State Coordinator flagged concern for availability of DR for every major project.

Sh. Tejveer Singh, while delivering key note address, applauded NIC Punjab for organizing such an informative workshop dedicated to e-governance service delivery. He recognized the importance of such workshops in facilitating learning and knowledge sharing among peers. He emphasized the need for continuous learning, drawing parallels with the evolution of technology in different spheres.

He also highlighted the significance of collaborative platforms for sharing and interaction and underscored the importance of establishing permanent setups within organizations. While acknowledging the need for outsourced manpower due to evolving technologies, he lauded NIC's close collaboration with the state government and its commitment to addressing e-governance challenges. He encouraged the exchange of ideas from other states and praised the successful implementation of many important projects by NIC in the state.

The inaugural function was followed by presentations from Division-I, Division-VII, and IVFRT were delivered, highlighting important flagship projects being managed by them.

Sh. Dharmesh Kumar, HoD Division-I, underscored the benefits of teamwork in achieving division objectives in a defined time frame. He conveyed that Punjab has developed unique features not available in Neva and shared information about the adoption of a micro-services-based architecture for the MGMN portal.

Ms. Usha Rai, HoD Division-VII, stated about the challenges faced during migrations to NG eOffice and highlighted the development of more than 40 services using ServicePlus. She noted the development of an SMS dashboard for the latest status in eOffice and the implementation of face recognition biometrics in coordination with NIC West Bengal and NIC Delhi AI teams.

Sh. Raj Kumar Tickoo, HoD & IVFRT Coordinator Punjab told status and details about eSanad, Indian Citizenship portal, eProsecution, ALIS-NDAL projects for NIC District Centres.

Sh. Sanjay Sawhney, State Training Coordinator of Punjab presented regarding Need for Documentation of Software Applications and office activities. He also conveyed types of documentation along with usage of Hindi Rajbhasha in documentation.

Sh. Narinder Singh, Senior Director (IT), presented Tejas VI and Sandes Integration in applications, offering detailed insights into these projects.

In order to popularize in-house developed office tool CollabFiles, a session on CollabFiles was given by NIC Hyderabad team including Dr. P.Gayatri, Sr. Director (IT) & Scientist F & HoD Collab Files and Ms. Y. Sreevani, Director (IT) & Scientist-E. They told about the latest features, function and usage of the new version of Collabfiles with live demonstration including importing and exporting of Document / Sheet / Presentation files from other platforms, protection of CollabSheet and cells with password along with its look and feel.

Sh. Vikram Jeet Grover, ASIO (State) emphasized that such Training Programmes –cum- Workshops plays an important role for NIC Officers towards learning and implementing the features of new technologies.

Day 2 (26th Oct, 2023)

On the second day, HoDs and officers of Division-V and Division-VI delivered detailed presentations on the projects handled by them and answered the queries raised by the participants. HoD Division-V briefed about PWRDA web application ePhulkari, FCC regulation, DISE and NextGen DISE. Major projects handled by Division-VI are eAbkari, eProcurement, Scholarship etc.

Ms. Sharmistha Das Gupta, DDG & HoG Artificial Intelligence Resource Division, AI Cloud Services and Virtual Assistance Division, NIC Hq. Delhi specially visited in the Training Programme –cum- Workshop organized by NIC Punjab. She provided valuable insights towards implementation of features of Artificial Intelligence in eGovernance, emphasizing the significance of data readiness and key factors behind AI's growth. She conveyed that AI as a Service(AIAAS) tools like Manthan, Tainaatee, Tippanee, Satyapikaanan, Parichay, VANI, (Virtual Assistance by NIC), Vividh, Prabandhan, the e-governance services are being taken to the next level. She told that all help will be extended for implementation of AI features in various projects of NIC Punjab.

A motivational lecture was given by Sh. Vivek Atray, IAS(Retd.) giving insights to prioritise the things in life so that we give valuable time to ourselves for our inner peace and happiness. He advised don’t watch TV, use mobile rather think and meditate before sleeping. We should spend time for ourselves and keep ourselves and be creative. He also advised to read books. So we need to be inspired all the time not to be stressed out and should find spark in our life.

Sh. Pankaj Jain, Director (IT) & Scientist-E demonstrated development of service using ServicePlus and developed a feedback form during demonstration so that participants can provide the feedback for this workshop through the same.

Ms. Rachna Srivastava, DDG and HoG eOffice Project Division, NIC Hq. Delhi gave a session in eOffice. HoG eOffice advised that every DIO should know the full functionality of eOffice to address the queries of District Administration. She highlighted new features of eOffice which every one should know and tell the user department accordingly. e.g. role mappings, delegation of power to subordinates, searchable scope and action scope of efiles, provision of multi sign, availability of integration of third party APIs, e-sign based login authentication and customization of MIS reports. She advised eOffice to be accessible only on intranet due to security concerns.

SIO Punjab thanked Ms. Rachna Srivastava for her support for migration of 6 state instances to NG eOffice and hope for last instance to be migrated soon. She also addressed the queries raised by participants.

Sh. Vikram Jeet Grover, ASIO (State) advised DIOs to learn the development of service using service plus in view to address the fast changing requirements of the users.

The last session of the day was given by Microsoft team on cloud Services, Application Modernization and Security.

Day 3 (27th Oct, 2023)

On the third day, October 27, 2023, Division-II and Division-IV briefed about projects being handled by them and answered the queries raised by the participants. Various major projects handled by Division-II are IFMS, invest Punjab, eAWAS, eDMS, cloud services, core infrastructure services, workflow and analytics-based CMS and few new initiatives like LG-IFMS, implementation of eChallan, CM dashboard, faceless transport services etc… were briefed by Sh. Anoop Kumar Jalali, Scientist F and HoD Division-II. Sh. Navinder Sharma, Scientist-D shared his best practices of project development being adopted highlighting features of Angular and .NET CORE.  Sh Narinder Singh, Scientist-F briefed about Complaint Management System of Vahan & Sarthi and on boarding procedure of Punjab mini cloud. SIO Punjab instructed all DIOs to register on NIC Punjab Mini Cloud for development work.

Sh. Rohit Jaitely, HoD Division-IV shared features and functionalities of iHRMS and its mobile apps. He gave brief introduction about implementation and utilization of HRMS project successfully running in state. Some DIOs gave their suggestions to get details related to election too in HRMS so that those details may be fetched into NextGen DISE. Sh. Vikramjit Singh, Scientist-E gave overview of DSS being used to generated interactive reports in iHRMS.

As DIOs play crucial role in implementing ICT services in districts and all DIOs have too much potential, so DIOs from Zone I and Zone II gave presentation on the exemplary work done by them. Ms. Usha Rai, Scientist F and ASIO Zone II appreciated the good work done by DIOs and advised DIOs to contribute in state level projects and to maintain a district profile showing the technical work being done by them which should be shown to DC from time to time. She also advised that we should have such regular technical sessions in which every one should contribute to keep ourselves technologically updated. She also advised to follow procedures in all administrative work. She told that applications developed by DIOs should be generic so that it can be replicated in other districts and other states too.

DIO Amritsar briefed about the AGILE (Awareness Generation Initiative for Promotion of Learning and Empowerment) – an initiative by district administration in coordination with DARPG.DIO Ropar showed a digital system known as Sakhi for complaint registration and tracking for aggrieved women against violence. SIO Punjab and ASIO (State) desired that applications developed in a state should be generic in nature so that it can be replicated in other districts too. DIO Jalandhar and DIO Kapurthala gave presentation on PTU counselling. After that, Jaldoot application by DIO Mansa, Sujatha App by DIO Faridkot was demonstrated. Prince Goel gave overview of flutter and development of mobile app using flutter.

Various issues related to store and admin were discussed by Sh. Anil Dogra, Scientist F & HoD Stores and Sh. Shailendera Singh, SO Punjab. HoD Stores advised all DIOs to update the stock register on time which is being maintained by them and to maintain the record of auctioned hardware properly avoiding any mismatch. He also told them to generate crack properly and record stock entries. SO advised them to take approval in time for any maintenance to be carried out using imprest. He also advised them to apply tour/Official duty properly, apply for joining in time, take approval of leave before availing, and apply station leave as and when required. SO Punjab appreciated the efforts of HO and IFDO Punjab as no audit para was made this time when audit was carried out. He also told to submit information to office which is mandatory to provide by an employee avoiding in vigilance enquiry.

Sh. Sanjeev Mahajan, Director of UIDAI Services, took the stage to provide an in-depth presentation on Aadhaar. His session included valuable insights into the facts surrounding Aadhaar, its legal provisions, and its practical applications. He shed light on the significance of Aadhaar authentication and delved into various use cases and methods for Aadhaar verification. His expertise on this essential topic illuminated its profound implications in our ever-evolving digital landscape.

In the session on networking, Sh. Mahavir Gupta, System Architect and Tech Lead at CISCO, offered valuable insights to create a more sustainable and secure services using Cloud and Application Modernization. His briefing provided participants with essential knowledge about the networking infrastructure that underpins our modern technological ecosystem.

Sh. Neeraj Goel, Head of Training Division, NIC Hq. Delhi, expressed his appreciation for the unwavering support and endorsement provided by Dr. Rajesh Kumar Pathak, DDG & HoG Training Division and Sh. I.P.S Sethi, State Coordinator of NIC Punjab. He emphasized that without their support, this initiative would not have been possible. Sh. Neeraj Goel further highlighted the importance of role-based training for NIC officers and urged participants not to neglect their training obligations after being nominated by the competent authority, as administrative actions could be taken at any time.

During the closing session, Sh. Neeraj Goel, Head of Training Division, NIC Hq. Delhi, appreciated the efforts put up by NIC Punjab in organizing the one of its own kind of Training Programme –cum- Workshop supported by the Training Division of NIC Hq. In his address, he extended warm congratulations to the SIO Punjab and his team for successfully conducting this comprehensive three-day workshop on behalf of NIC Hq. This event shall serve as an example for other states, showcasing the dedication and commitment of NIC Punjab. He congratulated the team of NIC Punjab lead by SIO for taking this initiative of organizing three days Training Programme –cum- Workshop in Chandigarh.

Valedictory by Sh. Vikram Jeet Grover

To wrap up this exciting training-cum-workshop, Sh. Vikram Jeet Grover, ASIO (State) delivered a heartfelt vote of thanks. He characterized this event as an exhilarating and enlightening experience that aimed to apprise the District Informatics Officers (DIOs) about the priorities of the State Government. It also served as a call to action, encouraging all DIOs and participants to actively contribute to new initiatives undertaken by NIC Punjab.

Sh. Vikram Jeet Grover, in his closing remarks, emphasized the importance of showing one's potential and actively involving oneself in state-level projects. He expressed sincere gratitude towards Dr. Rajesh Kumar Pathak, DDG & HoG Training Division and Sh. Neeraj Goel, Head of Training Division, NIC Hq. Delhi for providing all support in organizing the Training Programme –cum- Workshop. He specially thanked Sh. Neeraj Goel for his continuous guidance and encouragement.

He also expressed deep gratitude to Sh. Vivek Verma, DDG & SIO Punjab, acknowledging that this workshop's success would not have been possible without his unwavering commitment, leadership and support.

This workshop not only imparted knowledge but also fostered a sense of shared responsibility and collaboration among participants. As we conclude these three days of learning and engagement, we look forward to a future where the insights gained here will lead to meaningful contributions to the growth and development of Punjab in the field of IT. We express our gratitude to all who made this workshop a resounding success.

Conclusion:

This three-day Training Programme-cum-Workshop has set the stage for meaningful collaboration, knowledge sharing, and growth within the realm of informatics and e-governance. The rich insights and experiences shared by the distinguished speakers promise to shape the future of ICT services and administration in Punjab. It will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on all those involved.

The feedback of the three days Training Programme –cum- Workshop has been gathered from all the participants including officers from Punjab State Centre through the module specifically developed using ServicePlus platform.

On 22nd September, 2023, in a momentous occasion for the healthcare sector, Dr. Balbir Singh, Hon’ble Minister, Medical Education & Research, Punjab inaugurated the NextGen eHospital at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot. During the occasion, S. Gurdit Singh Sekhon, MLA Faridkot,  Dr. Rajeev Sood, Vice Chancellor Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Principal GGSMC Hospital, Faridkot and other dignitaries Doctors were present.

During the inauguration, Sh. Vivek Verma, SIO & DDG, NIC Punjab demonstrated the workflow of the software to Dr. Balbir Singh, Hon’ble Minister Medical Education & Research (MER) by generating an OPD Slip, Doctor's Prescription, and Billing receipt at the OPD of GGSMC & Hospital.  

Sh. Dharmesh Kumar, Sr. Director (IT) & HoD and Sh. Rajesh Thapa, Joint Director (IT) deliberated on various points with the Hon’ble Minister.

After the inauguration the NextGen eHospital, Dr. Balbir Singh, Hon'ble Minister, Medical Education and Research, addressed the gathering, and emphasized  that with its launch, the entire hospital operations, including OPD, IPD, Billing, Lab, Blood Bank, and pharmacy, will be computerized. Moreover, patients will have the convenience of scheduling OPD appointments online from their homes and accessing lab reports remotely.

The Hon’ble Minister appreciated the efforts made by the NIC in implementing the NextGen eHospital at GGSMC Faridkot. He also announced that the NextGen eHospital will be implemented in all Medical Colleges of Punjab shortly and will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Punjab.

Mr. Vivek Verma, SIO & DDG, NIC Punjab, presented a comprehensive overview of the NextGen eHospital project, and spoke about the efforts put in by the team and all the challenges faced by them during its implementation. He also shed light on the critical role played by NIC Punjab in the implementation of NextGen eHospital. He also updated about the current status of the project.

NIC Punjab Team comprising of Sh. Dharmesh Kumar, Sr. Director(IT) & HOD ,  Sh. Rajesh Thapa,  Jt. Director (IT)  of  NIC Punjab Division-I and S. Gurjinder Singh , DIO Faridkot  played a significant role in the implementation of NextGen eHospital at GGSMC & Hospital, Faridkot.

This inauguration would not have been possible without the exceptional support of the NextGen eHospital Team of NIC Hqrs., and for that, NIC Punjab thanked  Sh. Sunil Kumar, DDG and HOG; Sh. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Director (IT)(HOD); Sh. Sandeep Chopra, Sr. Director(IT); and Sh. Ajay Kumar, Assistant Director(IT). Team from NIC Hqrs. demonstrated unwavering dedication, support  and expertise throughout this journey. Their relentless commitment and ability to meet tight deadlines were instrumental in achieving the goal within a limited time frame.

On 21st September, 2023, Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Bhagwant Mann attended the inaugural session of National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) in Punjab Vidhan Sabha. During the occasion, all Ministers, MLAs and Administrative Secretaries were present.

In his welcome address, Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Sardar Kultar Singh Sandhwan acknowledged the efforts made by NIC Punjab to implement NEVA in a timely manner. He envisaged implementing a total software solution for empowering Members starting with paperless House Business, internal working of the paperless House Committees and e-Constituency management.

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Bhagwant Mann apart from launching the National          e-Vidhan Application (NeVA), also inaugurated/launched 4 more initiatives for making NeVA implementation a success in Punjab. He inaugurated a 2-day Conference-cum-Workshop on NeVA and released a vision brochure for NeVA Punjab. He also launched the new website of Punjab Vidhan Sabha (https://punjabassembly.nic.in)  developed by NIC Punjab including NeVA 2.0 functionalities for internal working of the paperless House Committees and   e-Constituency management. He also inaugurated NeVA Sewa Kendra in Punjab Vidhan Sabha to facilitate training and capacity building for the members and secretariat staff. He also inaugurated a Digital Wing in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, to be jointly managed by NIC Punjab and Punjab Vidhan Sabha, and help in successful implementation of NeVA.

Sh. Vivek Verma, SIO & DDG, NIC Punjab gave a presentation on NeVA Project covering the efforts & challenges in its implementation. He also provided an overview of the roles of NIC, NICSI and DoGR Punjab in implementing the NeVA project in Punjab. He apprised about the current status of NeVA and the lacing of the whole Vidhan Sabha premises with high-speed internet and wi-fi.

Sh. Dharmesh Kumar, Sr. Director (IT) & HoD, NIC Punjab gave a presentation on software modules for the working of the House, House Committees and e-Constituencies Management. He also explained that because the current NeVA software is only designed to handle paperless House business, NIC Punjab has developed complementary software (NeVA 2.0) to meet the needs of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, for the internal working of the paperless House Committees and e-Constituency management. Thus, NeVA along with NeVA 2.0 provides a total software solution to Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Sh. Sanjeev, Sr. Director (IT) & HoD, NIC-MoPA shared the MoPA guidelines and experiences of implementing NeVA Project in various States of India. Smt. Preeti Yadav Assistant Director (IT), NIC-MoPA, Sh. Mukesh Under Secretary, MoPA and Sh. Sameer Varshney Project Manager NeVA, MoPA were also present.

All officers and officials of the NIC Punjab State Unit also attended the NeVA conference and contributed in managing the conference.

Contribution of Sh. Sanjay Puri, Director (IT), Sh. Rajesh Thapa, Jt. Director (IT) and Sh. Virender Dhanda, Deputy Director (IT) of NIC Punjab Div-I was commendable.

The Chief Minister, while addressing the Assembly said it was a revolutionary step aimed at making the Punjab legislature more responsive. He said it was a matter of pride that Punjab was the first Vidhan Sabha to launch various applications as a total software solution under the scope of the NeVA project.

The Chief Minister said the digitisation of the Vidhan Sabha would act as a corner stone for enhancing the efficiency of MLAs to raise the issues of public concern. He envisioned that MLAs of both the opposition and treasury banks would take mileage out of this initiative.

The Chief Minister said this was the dawn of a new era as the functioning of the State Legislative Assembly would be now paperless. He said under the NeVA project, it would be easier to trace decisions and documents as well as to share information for

transparent and answerable processes at various levels for empowerment of the MLAs. He also said more such efforts would be made to ensure that people are benefited from it.

Apart from iPads fixed on table of each member in the House, the Chief Minister also distributed iPads to the Ministers and MLAs for working from Home.

A vote of thanks was given by Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha Sardar Jai Krishan Singh.

The Punjab Water Regulation & Development Authority (PWRDA) takes a significant leap forward in its mission to manage and regulate ground water usage in the state. On September 6, 2023, PWRDA launched its much-awaited Online Permission Portal, a groundbreaking initiative designed and developed by the NIC Punjab under the visionary leadership of Sh. Vivek Verma, DDG and SIO Punjab. The online portal not only simplifies the application process but also contributes to greater transparency and efficiency within the department.

The Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority (PWRDA) established in the year of 2020 with an aim to manage and regulate ground water usage in the state of Punjab to achieve sustainable management of groundwater balanced with the requirements of the livelihoods of people in the State. The conservation of water is to be mandated for all users of groundwater by encouraging them to undertake, at their own cost, water conservation measures that will help to achieve the set target for conservation for each zone in the state.

As per the requirement received from PWRDA, NIC Punjab has designed, developed and deployed the Web Portal, Web Application and Mobile Apps for the department for obtaining permissions for Groundwater Extraction, operating Drilling Rigs and Water Tanker in Punjab under the Punjab Ground Water Extraction and Conservation Directions 2023. No User shall extract groundwater or conduct any activity connected therewith without obtaining permission of the authority except for drinking and domestic usage, exclusive usage in agriculture, use in a place of worship, drinking and domestic water supply scheme of Government, use by an establishment of the Military or of the Central Paramilitary Forces,          an Urban Local Body, Panchayati Raj Institution, Cantonment Board, Improvement Trust or Area Development Authority and a unit extracting not more than 300 cubic meters of groundwater per month.

The portal will automate the process to provide NOC to the applicants of commercial units for extraction of ground water and its related permissions. Also the user department will then process the application as per their business rules and grant NOC to all the commercial units. With this system the application processing time will be reduced and system will bring more transparency in the department. Also Web Portal provides organization information and its applications/services. This is complete work flow based application which under goes scrutiny at three level before granting permission to the applicant. The workflow is fully customizable through Admin User. The application has been integrated with various APIs like PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.), PPCB (Punjab Pollution Control Board) and Business First for the ease of applicants and as per the requirement of the application. Bharat Maps has been used for pictorial representation of units on the map.

The Web Portal and Web Application have been designed and developed using Open Source technologies and have been deployed in State Data Centre and is accessible at https://pwrda.punjab.gov.in. The Web Portal is complete Content Management System (CMS) and has been developed to provide the utility of dynamically managing the contents of portal.

On this occasion Sh. Surjit Singh, Scientist-F and HoD Div5, Sh. Dinesh Sharma, Scientist-F and Ms Parminder Kaur, Scientist-E were also present.

Punjab Information and Public Relations Minister S. Chetan Singh Jauramajra on 2nd Aug 2023, launched an online portal, designed to streamline the process of journalists obtaining their accreditation.  The portal developed by NIC Punjab for the Department of Information and Public Relations, has transformed the process of issuance of identity to media persons.

The Cabinet Minister S. Chetan Singh Jauramajra, appreciated the efforts put in by DIPR and NIC Punjab for creating portal which will revolutionize the process of issuance of accreditation to journalists. Aspiring and established journalists can navigate the application process with ease and convenience.  By utilizing the platform, they can submit their documents, verify their credentials and gain accreditation in an efficient and timely manner and it would be given as per the eligibility conditions and Quota limits specified in the guidelines. 

Secretary IPR Mr. Malwinder Singh Jaggi, IAS informed that online accreditation platform will allow journalists to submit their accreditation applications from the comfort of their own workplaces, whether at the district, state level or from Delhi. He said that the initiative aims to significantly streamline the accreditation process, minimizing manual intervention and reducing approval times.

Director IPR Mr. Bhupinder Singh, IAS said that journalists can now submit their applications directly, eliminating the need to travel to regional or state offices. This innovative approach will save time and resources for journalists working in diverse regions. He further told that once applications are submitted, the system automatically escalates them to the approval authority at the state level. The absence of manual intervention expedites the process, ensuring quick and efficient accreditation. In the event of objections to an application, the system enables the process to be conducted online. Applicants can address objections and make necessary adjustments directly, avoiding unnecessary visits to offices.

Sh. Vivek Verma, Deputy Director General & State Informatics Officer Punjab, under whose guidance the application has been developed, said that the application has been developed in ServicePlus which is e-Service delivery framework developed by NIC for delivering electronic-services to citizens. He further said that the applicants receive SMS and email alerts, keeping them informed about the status of their applications and the expected time for approval.

On this occasion, Sr. Director & ASIO (D) Mrs. Usha Rai, Director (IT) Mr. Pankaj Jain,  Deputy Director (Press) Mr. Ishwinder Singh Grewal and Deputy Director Mr. Gurmeet Singh Khaira, were also present.

‘Embossing of Documents’ application developed in ServicePlus Framework by NIC Punjab was launched by S. Bhagwant Mann, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Punjab on 24th July 2023 in his office. It marks a significant milestone in administrative efficiency and transparency. This application promises to revolutionize the way NRIs authorize property sales in India.

The launch event was attended by esteem dignitaries, including the Sh. Brahm Shankar Sharma, Minister of Revenue, Sh. Anurag Verma, Chief Secretary Punjab, Sh. K.P. Sinha, Financial Commissioner, Punjab, Sh. Vivek Verma, DDG & SIO Punjab, and other high-ranking officers, who witnessed the service's potential to transform the property transaction process for NRIs.

Embossing of Documents Application will facilitate NRIs in authorizing a person in India to conduct property sales on their behalf. The application's seamless automation allows for the swift submission of authorization applications to relevant officers at 29 locations, including DC Office, Divisional Commissioner, and FCR (State) office, adhering to specified conditions.

One of the standout features of this service is the user's ability to schedule a convenient visit to the chosen location after scrutiny of documents. To ensure maximum convenience, separate slot booking pages for all 29 locations are meticulously maintained. With the option to schedule the final embossing of documents on the original deed at a time of their choosing, applicants enjoy unparallel flexibility.

Integration with the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), Punjab streamlines the payment process. Applicants can directly submit fees to the revenue department's designated head of account through multiple payment gateways supported by the application. This removes any third-party payment gateway which in turn obviates reconciliation and other cumbersome financial tasks.

The implementation of ‘Embossing of Documents’ service has been successful  because of unwavering dedication and efforts put in by S Amolak S Kalsi, Sr. Director (IT) and  Sh. Pankaj Jain, Director (IT) under the expert guidance and support of Sh. Vivek Verma, DDG & SIO Punjab.  Their collaborative spirit ensured the service's flawless execution, promising to bring immense benefits to NRIs and stakeholders involved in property transactions.

With the launch of ‘Embossing of Documents’ service, ServicePlus reaffirms its commitment to innovation, efficiency, and user-centric solutions, paving the way for further advancements in public service delivery.