AFTER SHUTTING DOWN 1,647 SEWA KENDRAS, THE STATE GOVERNMENT HAS NOW EXORBITANTLY RAISED SERVICE CHARGES

HIGHLIGHTS

Taking a decision in the state Cabinet last year, Punjab government had quietly ordered the closure of 1,647 of the 2,147 Sewa Kendras
According to the fresh notification, the Sewa Kendras are supposed to provide a total of 292 services but the number varies as per the standard and location of a center

RAJAY DEEP
Bathinda
After the rise in electricity consumption charges, the Punjab government, by a notification of the department of governance reforms on December 31, 2018, has hiked facilitation charges for services provided at the Sewa Kendras up to 100 per cent. The decision to charge revised fees of the services has been implemented in all Sewa Kendras across the state putting the applicants into serious discomfort. Leave aside the hefty increase in the charges related to the facilitation of services related to Arms licenses, the state government has also doubled the fees for issuing Medico-Legal Report (MLR) copies and even for making a correction in the birth and death certificates. Even the fee for processing the application for Aadhaar Card at these centres has also been revised in the state. The Revenue, Home, Social Welfare and Health are the prime departments which have a direct connection with the masses and the government has targeted the services rendered by these departments to generate more income. It was during the SAD-BJP regime in August-September 2016 that as many as 2,147 Sewa Kendras were opened.The then deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal had projected it as one of the government’s significant achievements over two terms (2007-2017). The Badal government had promised “efficient delivery of citizen-centric services while wiping out corruption by minimising contact between the masses and government offices”.

However, after the Congress government came to power, it found the facility as an unproductive liability. Taking a decision in the state Cabinet last year, Punjab government had quietly ordered the closure of 1,647 of the 2,147 Sewa Kendras. After closing about 700 Sewa Kendras in May 2018 and about 900 in July the same year, the state government opted to retain just 500 Kendras to operate and deliver services to the people. The state government’s has now put a heavy burden particularly on rural residents as most of the closed centres were fall in villages. Each of such centre was aimed at facilitating the people covering 8 to 10 nearby villages. It is pertinent to mention that earlier, the Punjab government during the SAD-BJP rule used to spend crores of rupees to provide the services to the residents but after the Congress party took over the charge the cabinet decided to cancel the previous contracts and signed a new agreement with the private service provider under which the state started getting money from the company, after reducing the “burden” of operating 2,147 Kendras to just 500. The move was opposed by the Akali Dal-BJP alliance as well the AAP leaders, stating that it would render thousands of employees of Sewa Kendras jobless and common, poor and needy citizens would have to face hardships. According to the fresh notification, the Sewa Kendras are supposed to provide a total of 292 services but the number varies as per the standard and location of a centre.

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