Mangaluru, Dec 1: Citizens of the twin districts can get all the services in the government offices of the coastal districts without any document. Government has notified to open files in district-level government offices in the E-office software and do all the transactions.

The state government had directed a year ago to make all government offices go paperless to conserve the environment, for better transparency and implementation of modern software. This was partially implemented in some departments of the government, while other offices were extremely slow in adapting the changeover. Now the state government has given the ultimatum of January 1, 2020, and has strictly ordered to make the district level government offices paperless.

Offices of Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dakshina Kannada district and Zilla panchayat have almost turned paperless now itself. Implementation of the digital signature process is in its last stages. The status of Udupi DC office and Zilla panchayat office is also the same as most of the transactions have gone paperless and only final implementation is pending. Rest of the offices like district level food and civil supplies, Muzrai department and Elections department have gone paperless. The taluk panchayat offices of both DK and Udupi district are also on the way of becoming paperless.

If the paperless process is implemented at all levels completely in all the government departments, then there is no need for the public to carry a hard copy of application while approaching these offices. In addition, the status of their application can be checked online through the mobile app. In offices of Dakshina Kannada DC and Zilla panchayat, 1,695 and 759 applications are received respectively, through E-office software. In the offices of Udupi DC and Zilla panchayat, 1,895 and 412 applications are received respectively through online in the past 15 days.

The E-office implementation committee, under the presidentship of respective DCs, has directed to implement the E-office software in the remaining government offices of the district. However, the implementation has not taken place completely citing a shortage of staff and work pressure.

Though both the offices of DC and Zilla panchayat are functioning paperless, the files that have to be sent to the higher officials, ministers of the department and other officials are being sent in the hard copy style only. So 100% paperless implementation has not taken place. Now the training of one-day in a week is given to all the employees of district-level offices in cooperation with the principals of training centres of each district.

Sindhu B Roopesh, DC of Dakshina Kannada district and G Jagadeesh, DC of Udupi district said, "Paperless way of functioning is already implemented in offices of DC, Zilla panchayat and other departments. Instructions are given to implement the same 100% from January 1, 2020. Officials and staff of the offices are getting trained in this regard,"