Odisha would have a Digital Asset Register (DAR) in two to three months’ time as it is a priority of the State Government to put in place the system, which can be accessed by the citizens.

While the Odisha Space Application Centre (ORSAC) has been roped in as the technical partner for development of the DAR, an Odisha Public Asset Management System (OPAMS) is being set up on a priority mode.In fact, the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board of the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) has taken Odisha as the piloting State in this regard.

The OPAMS is a web portal, which can provide geospatial data service to the Government departments and help in recoding data on both legacy assets as well as current assets.

All departments have been advised to appoint a senior officer as nodal officer, who would act as a super administrator in the asset database for validating the asset data pertaining to establishments under their organisations. The nodal officers would coordinate with the OPAMS authorities for validation of data. The ORSAC has gone ahead in its effort in a big way. In fact, it had developed and applied about 36 major GIS-mapped digitised databases in 2019-20 for various departments and agencies.

Meanwhile, it has also updated geo-tagged information on roads, canals, water bodies, power networks, schools, health facilities, police stations, banks, fire stations, tourist locations, storages/warehouses, among others. The ORSAC database and its applications were discussed at a recently-held all Secretaries’ meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.

It was decided that all new assets being created under different departments would be captured through the portal from planning and grounding to completion, commissioning and maintenance.

The OPAMS would have updated information with maps, apps, analytics and dashboards. Mahapatra has advised the Secretaries to take it as a priority project and use the OPAMS for accounting and reporting of the assets of their departments.