The civic body has got itself a “magic machine” to fulfil its promise of delivering round-the-clock service and improving its accessibility.

A heavy-duty central server, without which the e-linking programme of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) will not be complete, has finally been acquired for Rs 36 crore.

“We were waiting for it for over a year. Finally, it has come and we think it will solve a lot of problems and improve the delivery of our services,” said mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya.

“Once the network is established, sometime next year, the 100-odd offices of the civic body across the city will be linked online with the headquarters. The server will start functioning by September,” he added.

In the e-linked regime, citizens can deposit taxes or fees and collect birth or death certificates from any CMC counter, irrespective of their place of residence.

For example, a flat-owner from Beleghata can submit a mutation form to the Jadavpur office of the CMC and collect the approval letter from the Chitpur counter.

“Area-specific restrictions in the delivery of services will be lifted once the complete e-network, powered by the central server, is established,” the mayor pointed out.

The Rs 100-crore e-networking programme has been undertaken with a grant from the British government.

“We have engaged three consultancy firms — Tata Consultancy Services, Oracle and KPMG — to quicken the e-networking process,” said municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

“We have also set up a committee, comprising experts from Indian Statistical Institute and Jadavpur University, which will supervise the commissioning of the server and setting up of the network,” he added.

A civic official, however, pointed out: “For the desired result, the CMC will have to recruit more IT-savvy people. And the employees also need to have the right attitude to serve the people.”