The responsibility of Urban Local Body is to provide quick, and transparent services to the Citizens. For the purpose, whopping 47 services are systemized, streamlined, consolidated and incorporated in a cell by Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC). The cell is called Citizen Service Centre (CSC) where Citizen Charter is being followed for all 47 services. It works as a single window where in the citizen can submit the application and get the result of the application in stipulated time instead of moving to different tables. This also avoided direct contact of officials with public and thus chance of corruption is minimized. This is also leading to citizen saving his valuable time and money. The CSCs are customer friendly along with good facilities for seating, etc. There are number of kiosks in the city to collect applications and pay application money. Everything related ULB services can be done at one single point now.




Guntur is one of the fastest growing cities of Andhra Pradesh with a population of about 6.15 lakh (estimated) and area of 45.71 Sq. Km. It is a major centre of chilly and tobacco trade and agricultural market. The city is reputed to be a renowned health and educational center.
The Urban Local Body (ULB) is responsible for providing citizen friendly, quick and transparent service to the citizens. For the purpose, whopping 47 services are systemized, streamlined, consolidated and incorporated by Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) in a cell called Citizen Service Centre (CSC) where Citizen Charter is being followed. It works as a single window, where in the citizen can submit the application and get the result of the application (approval/rejection) in stipulated time, instead of moving to different departments and avoiding direct contact with officials which otherwise might lead to malpractices.

The aim of MIS Based Citizen Charter Services is to provide transparent, coherent, robust and quality services to the citizen that ensures simple, easy and time saving process and provide single entry and exit point for a citizen's requested service.
Citizens were greatly hassled to get service and were moving from one department to another. They had to identify to which section the service belongs and then contact the officer concerned to know the procedures and fee particulars to get the service. After submission, the file will move to different tables and in some cases different sections also to get the clearance. The applicant also has to come to office very often to know and to track its status. In the process, he was getting harassed and citizen was making number of trips to GMC and used to face lot of problems as there is no accountability in process. Application was totally at the mercy of the person dealing.

Initially, the initiative was started with five services and now it is expanded to 47 services. Before taking any service to Citizen Charter a detailed discussion among GMC officials is organized internally to streamline and systemize all the linked activities. Some process reengineering also takes place. They also identified number of days required to clear application for that particular service and Commissioner authorize the service with stipulated time to deliver the application and gets published.

Citizen submits application for any service from the list of 47 identified services at the CSC along with required fee. The operator, after receiving the application, enters it into the computer and generates an acknowledgement which contains basic details along with the due date of disposal and hands it over to the citizen. Applications at the end of the day are categorized based on the type of service and are sent to the respective sections for process. The clerk in the section after receiving the application initiates the process by following all the due procedures. He enters his remarks and sends the application to the next level of hierarchy.

The result of the application that is approval/rejection will be handed over to the Citizen Service Centre in the stipulated time as specified in the Citizen Charter Guidelines and gets delivered at door step of the citizen by post. If the result of the application is not received to the Citizen within the due date the department has to pay Rs. 50 per day till the issue is settled.

There are multiple mmechanisms by which customers can register their complaints such as telephone, letter, in person. Complaints are segregated into different categories. They are collated through the computer network and tracked on daily basis. The status of redressal complaints is maintained.

• The situation after implementation of the initiative is that the service delivery of GMC has become efficient and it is evident from the number of applications received through CSC has increased from 5,332 in 2005 to 54,541 services in 2010.
• After Implementation of the CSC backed by IT, the service delivery and accountability improved considerably.
• The Citizen can know the information required for a service, i.e., process, fee particulars, application forms , documents to be enclosed, etc., through help counter provided in the CSC. Citizen can save their valuable time and money.
• It completely avoids citizens' hassle from moving around the office and getting service in a stipulated time. Citizen also receives his approved application at his door step saving his valuable money and time.
• CSC now inviting overwhelming public demand and about 200 people visit GMC each day. Upgradation of the components and division wise citizen service centres are the next steps GMC propose to implement.

	2007	2008	2009	2010
Engineering	1,295	3,962	6,743	4,560
Revenue	2,005	7,901	5,920	5,973
Town Planning	1,727	1,411	2,101	2,648
Public Health	24,704	29,865	32,071	40,408
Administration	3	228	319	610
Accounts	-	78	338	342
Total	29,734	43,445	47,492	54,541

Around 75% of citizen services are disposed with in specified time. Daily around 100 Birth & Death services are received and disposed in 5 days.

In addition to the CFCs, recently GMC introduced few services online i.e. payment of taxes, birth and death certificates and customer complaints redressal mechanism. Any ULB can implement the system adopted by GMC and customize according to their requirement. The software requirements are not high-end.
For further details, contact:

Commissioner
Guntur Municipal Corporation,
Opposite to Gandhi Park
Guntur - 522 003
Andhra Pradesh
Ph: 0863 - 2224202
Fax: 0863 - 2324704
Email: mc_guntur@rediffmail.com