January 2, 2015 by admin

Apply online, pay less for public services

Chandigarh, The Punjab government has reduced facilitation charges for services notified under the Right to Service (RTS) Act. No facilitation fee would be charged online as well as across the counter for all government-sponsored services.A spokesman of the Governance Reforms Department today said the state was focusing on providing all 249 citizen-centric services online to eliminate contact between government offices and public to wipe out corruption and provide efficient and hassle-free services.He said facilitation charges had been reduced by 5 per cent to 25 per cent for online users. Services like caste certificate, birth and death certificate, rural area certificate and residence certificate could be availed at a fee of Rs 40 as against Rs 50 at the counter.He said services for which online user would avail maximum benefit are issuance of marriage ability certificate for Rs 765 as against Rs 830 at counter, solemnisation of marriage for Rs 910 as against Rs 1,160, registration of marriage at Rs 950 instead of Rs 1,250 and issuance of arms licence for Rs 1,325 against Rs 1,950 at the counter.The official said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had directed all departments to provide all public services online. The move would reduce rush at suwidha centres and sanjh kendras, besides encouraging people to go online to save their time and money.The move would also be fruitful for Punjabi diaspora as they would get the required services not “inline”, but online, he added.