DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Governance Reforms Minister Aman Arora on Thursday announced the expansion of the 'Bhagwant Mann Sarkar, Tuhade Dwaar' scheme with the addition of 363 more citizen-centric services, allowing people to avail all services, being offered through Sewa Kendras, at their doorsteps.

This initiative now offers doorstep delivery of 406 services, including Aadhaar card issuance, driving licences and passport applications.

After flagging off 'Sewa Sahayaks' here to facilitate people in availing the benefits of this scheme, Arora said the scheme, which started on December 10, 2023, with a limited set of 43 services, has now grown to offer a total of 406 services across 29 major government departments.

The services now available include those related to driving licences, passport applications, police verifications, utility connections, NOCs from district authorities, tenant verification and many more.

The addition of 363 more services further broadens the reach of the scheme, ensuring that essential government services are delivered without unnecessary delays or paperwork.

Highlighting the overwhelming response received from the public, the minister said over 92,000 applications have been received under this scheme and all applications have been processed within time.

Residents have been able to avoid the hassle of visiting government offices, rather, their documents have been delivered directly to their homes.

Arora emphasised that this initiative aims to ease the burden by addressing the long-standing issues of bureaucratic hurdles and long queues and save the time people spend navigating through complex government procedures.

The "Bhagwant Mann Sarkar Tuhade Dwaar" scheme, born from an understanding of these challenges, seeks to make government services available directly at the doorsteps of every citizen in Punjab.

In the last two years, the state government has made significant strides in simplifying processes, eliminating the need for physical certificates and digitising records. Over 77 lakh certificates have already been delivered digitally and citizens now receive government-approved certificates directly on their mobile phones, saving their time and money.

Additionally, Patwaris, Sarpanches, Nambardas and Municipal Corporation officials have been onboarded to process applications online, further streamlining the service delivery system. Over 9 lacs applications have been processed online by the

Patwaris, he added.

(editor@dailyworld.in)