Haryana to respond to RTI queries through SMS
The Haryana State Information Commission is ready to implement an SMS service that will provide answers to RTI queries like status of appeals, complaints, decisions and the dates of hearing of cases.
Chandigarh: Haryana citizens will soon be able to know the status of their cases filed with the State Information Commission (SIC) through short messaging service (SMS).
This move would mean wherever a resident is, he won’t have to travel all the way to Chandigarh to get information pertaining to case’s hearing or status.
The state commission has tied up with a Hyderabad-based think-tank, Centre for Good Governance, which provides e-Solutions on good governance. After working for almost a year on the SMS project, the centre is all set to implement it.
“After the Andhra Pradesh Information Commission, the Haryana SIC will be the second one to provide online facilities to the appellants. The Hyderabad centre has installed the software at our office and the server is going to be installed soon,” outgoing Chief Information Commissioner G Madhavan informed.
Once the SMS project is implemented, the State Commission will instantly reply to all queries pertaining to the present status of appeals, complaints, decision and the date of hearing.
“We have imparted training to our staff on the new software. Once the hardware and software requirements are in place, we are going to issue a set of numbers to people on which they can send their queries. We will ensure their queries are answered instantly,” the Chief Information Commissioner said.
Besides, the state information commission is in for a total overhaul of the system with digitisation of all complaints and appeals underway. It is in the process of revamping its website so that appeals are filed online effectively and residents don’t have to travel all the way to Chandigarh to file their complaints.
