Bengal govt's 'Duare Sarkar' scheme wins Centre's Digital India Award

Kolkata: Duare Sarkar (Government at Doorstep), a dream project of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has received the Platinum Award in the category of "Public Digital Platforms - Central Ministries, Departments and States" under the Digital India Awards 2022 of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The award will be given away on January 7, 2023, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, by the President of India.

Since its rollout on December 1, 2020, Duare Sarkar has been organised in five phases and more than 6.6 crore services have been successfully delivered to citizens through 3.61 lakh outreach camps.

The entire process of organising camps, receiving applications and delivery of services can be monitored on a real-time basis (MIS) through the ICT-enabled Duare Sarkar portal.

A unique citizen-centric initiative of the state government, Duare Sarkar is a unique model to provide various government services at the doorsteps of citizens through outreach camps in every corner of the state. A mobile app has also been developed for the mega scheme.

The latest edition of Duare Sarkar was earlier scheduled from November 1 to 30 and has been later extended to December 31.

Till December 17, about 72,037 camps have been organised with over 91 lakh people attending them.

Applications for a good number of new connections for electricity were also received at the camps along with pleas for a waiver in power bills.

Domestic consumers having outstanding dues may avail of the waiver of 50 per cent of the dues upto December 31, 2018 if the remaining 50 per cent amount is paid at a time.

Also, late payment surcharge (–billed and projected) till December 31, 2018, will be waived off fully. The same also holds for shallow tube wells, deep tube wells and river lift irrigation run by individuals or beneficiaries/farmers' committees.