July 26, 2014
WB Govt to roll out GIS technology for rural Bengal
West Bengal government will roll-out a newcomputer-based system to track rural activities in the state. The technology tostore and analyse data for specific geographic locations across 1,000 grampanchayats will also bring in more accountability for all activities undertakenby rural units.
Scheduledto be implemented across nine districts, the Geographic Information System(GIS)-based project will also ensure people`s participation in developmentalactivities and panchayat meetings by keeping regular tabs on the progressstatus. The project will be taken up on a pilot basis in Burdwan district andthe entire project will be rolled out in the third quarter of the year.
Throughthis, the Government shall track all physical activities taken up as part ofvarious schemes. For example, photographs will be taken at the beginning of aproject. Then through the various stages, all the data will be updated anduploaded on the GIS server. This will improve accountability as well.Additionally, the venture will tackle the issues of fudged figures of people`sparticipation in village meetings.
Thegovernment has been getting complaints that participation data are manipulated.Through GIS, it will get reconfirmation of participation of villagers in themeetings and discussions. This will also boost their participation.
