Samyojane App faces technical glitches; 38 Government services halted; 69,800 citizen service applications pending

Mysuru: Former Chief Minister Siddharamaiah while presenting his 2018-2019 Budget announced a slew of apps to be developed by the Revenue Department including ‘Samyojane’ for citizen services, ‘Dishank’ — survey numbers and maps of spots where user is located, ‘Samikshe’ — digital sketches to be done on this, ‘Aadhaar Sangrahane’ — to collect Aadhaar numbers and ‘Moulya’ —to get guidance values. 

All these apps were to achieve a paperless office and also to bring in the much-needed administrative reforms to minimise human interventions and to eliminate corruption.

Among the apps, the most ambitious one was ‘Samyojane’ that has now run into rough weather due to a host of technical issues. As such, more than 38 Government services have come to a grinding halt, making the paperless office concept a non-starter. This has severely inconvenienced student community and farmers. 

69,800 applications pending:  ‘Samyojane’ app was introduced to Revenue Officers and Village Accountants at Mysuru Taluk Naada Kacheris and ‘Atalji Janasnehi Kendras.’ Since the app is facing technical glitches, 69,800 applications for various citizen services including issuance of caste certificates, income certificates and proof of residence, cultivation certificates, land holding, pension, social security, widow and physically challenged persons pension and Sandhya Suraksha have been kept pending.

The app was introduced to Mysuru Taluk Office to make it paperless office in stages and it was decided to offer services to farmers in the pilot phase. Accordingly, on Oct. 20, the app was introduced in Mysuru and officers from Revenue Department including Revenue Inspectors and villagers were trained to use the app — from receiving applications to redressal of the issue. 

App functions for 2 days

The app functioned smoothly from Oct. 21 to 23 but developed glitches from Oct. 24. The app cannot be accessed with the servers installed at Taluk Office. As such all applications submitted from Oct. 24 have not been looked into. 

Thirty-eight government services are being handled in Mysuru Taluk at three Naada Kacheris in rural areas and six Atalji Janasnehi Kendras in city areas. The Naada Kacheris are located at Jayapura, Varuna, and Yelwal Hoblis and the Atalji Janasnehi Kendras are located at Mysuru Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Jayanagar, near Akashavani, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Circle, Hebbal and FTS (Ambedkar) Circle.  

2,500 applications per day

On an average, 2,500 people submit applications at the Revenue Department Offices every day. All of them are now being turned away as the work has to be done manually and people are told that manual work takes time. Clueless about the defunct ‘Samyojane’ app, people are running from one office to another to get their grievances redressed. From Oct. 24 to Nov. 10, 69,800 applications for various services have been submitted. 

App non-functional in mobiles

Based on the directive of their higher-ups, Revenue officers have downloaded the ‘Samyojane’ app on their mobile phones but here too, the app is non-functional. The pressure on officers by applicants is mounting by the day. 

Revenue officers express their helplessness over the issue. On condition of anonymity, they told Star of Mysore that instead of mobile phones to operate the ‘Samyojane’ app, they must be given laptops as operating with mobile phones is a cumbersome process and will cause delay. “It requires five to seven minutes to clear one application and operating the app with a mobile is time-consuming as we continuously get calls that disrupt the process,” an officer said. 

By M.T. Yogesh Kumar