Haryana Government’s  Antyodaya Saral Project has been selected for the 'Gold Award' in the category of ‘Excellence in providing Citizen-centric Delivery’ which employs e-Governance  to make delivery of citizen-centric services to the people time-bound and hassle-free.

The award will be conferred at the 23rd National Awards ceremony for e-Governance to be organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India (DAR&PG) in Mumbai on February 7 and 8.

Congratulating the officers, Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, said, “It is a matter of great pride for Haryana that the e-governance initiatives of the state government have been recognized and rewarded at the national level.”

Buoyed by the award, the state government would now re-engineer the processes to put in place a cashless, paperless and faceless mechanism for delivery of citizen-centric services to realize the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India, he said.

Officials said Antyodaya Saral Project helped in curbing corruption, improving efficiency and ensuring hassle-free delivery of services, but has also given Haryana a new identity in the field of Information Technology (IT).

Rakesh Gupta, Project Director, Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associates, said the huge IT potential of Haryana has helped the state in emerging as a premier cyber hub in the country. The state has now set the target of making 2.5 crore citizens of Haryana as e-citizens.

Gupta said there has been a huge collaborative effort between 38 departments, district administration of all districts and NIC Haryana, with a strong supporting role played by Chief Minister’s office and the IT Department.

The key objectives of Antyodaya Saral include bringing all schemes and services on one integrated online platform, establishing state-of-the-art citizen service delivery centers at the district, sub-division and tehsil level, ensuring availability of all schemes and services at Atal Seva Kendra (CSC), and making sure that schemes and services are delivered to the people of the state in a transparent and time-bound manner.

Gupta said every year, about 1 crore applications are received online in Haryana. More than 70 lakh are received through the Antyodaya Saral platform. More than 1 lakh queries and grievances regarding schemes and services are resolved every month through the Antyodaya Saral Helpline (1800-2000-023).

More than 15 lakh SMS are sent to citizens every month to inform the status of applications. On an average, departments have got a rating of 4.3 out of 5 for citizen satisfaction through the feedback calls made to citizens every month.

In the last two years, the Haryana Government has delivered 88.2 per cent of its applications within the stipulated time period notified under the Haryana Right to Service Act 2014,  Gupta said.

After implementation of Antyodaya Saral, there has been a 15 per cent increase in the applications received and 16 per cent reduction in the processing time from mid-2018 to mid-2019 and further positive change is expected in the coming months.