Patna, April 17: In a bid to end the agony of people queuing up at block offices for certificates, the rural development department is mulling online services under an ambitious project christened Kahin Bhi Kabhi Bhi Sewayen (KBKBS).

Block offices are the main windows of service for masses. They issue income certificates, caste certificates, birth and death certificates among others.

“We intend to provide these services online so that people do not need to come to block offices each time they need a certificate,” rural development minister Nitish Mishra told The Telegraph.

The department is moving methodically before launching the service. Mishra recently held a meeting with IT minister Shahid Ali Khan to discuss the IT support required for the ambitious project.

The meeting assumes significance as the functioning of 2MBPS lines, through which block offices are connected, have not been up to the mark. Frequent link failures create problems. Damage to the optical fibres worsens the situation.

The meeting has proved fruitful and the IT ministry has earmarked Rs 10 crore for setting up the required IT platform in five blocks in which the rural development department intends to launch KBKBS on pilot basis latest by July. The names of the blocks would be finalised soon.

“As far as launching the service in the entire state is concerned, we would do so only after analysing the outcome of the pilot project,” the rural development minister said.

As far as funds for setting up the desired level of IT infrastructure for having full-fledged KBKBS and other IT-based services are concerned, the state would not face much problems as out of an estimated Rs 1,000 crore required for this purpose, the state can get central assistance as per the provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

“We are entitled to one-time central assistance of something between Rs 600 and 700 crore under MNREGA for setting up the IT infrastructure in rural areas,” Mishra said.

Availability of trained manpower for handling computers at the block-level would not be a problem as the state government has deputed IT assistants in all the 534 blocks.

KBKBS apart, the rural development department is planning to introduce five mobile vans for social auditing. The vans would be like OB vans used by news channels to provide live feed from the field.

“Social auditing of ongoing schemes is a must to know whether the benefits are reaching the target group or not. The services of mobile vans would allow us to interact directly with villagers, particularly during panchayat meetings through which social auditing of schemes is done,” Mishra said.

He said the mobile vans would be sent to different areas periodically and efforts would be made to cover all corners of the state using them.

The minister claimed that once the desired IT platform is in place, the department would use it for other purposes also.