Bicholim municipality goes online

BICHOLIM FEB 16
Residents of Bicholim need not visit the municipal office frequently in future, as most services are now available at the click of a button.
The launch of Bicholim Municipal Council (BMC) website (www.bmcgoa.com) has added another feather to its cap. BMC is reportedly the first B-class municipality to launch such website for the benefit of the people.
“This is a low cost and wide use programme implemented by BMC. It will certainly lessen the trouble of the people of being in a queue for getting just a form,” BMC Vice Chairman Shashikant Naik Harlankar told Herald.
Developed by Leo Space Panjim, the BMC website was inaugurated by Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane on February 11 and is a part of the e-governance policy.
The website also provides all the details and contacts of councillors and the key municipal staff.
“It’s just a step forward for the betterment of the people and it would lead to transparency in the working of the municipality,” said Harlankar.
“BMC was the first to develop a garbage treatment plant and now it has launched a website which will be of immense help to the public,” added Halarnkar.
“To make it more effective in the first week of April, the site will also provide an opportunity for online payment of house tax, construction licence fees and other such services provided by BMC,” he said.
“Besides, we will also implement SMS service by which people from Bicholim have to just enter their mobile phone number and information about the processing of their file would be sent via SMS,” he added.
The only aim of the site is to provide all the information about BMC at the click of a button.
The site provides the required information through five sub-heads. Under the option ‘Grievances’, it provides detailed information about important official procedure pertaining to the public.
The website also provides information on construction license, occupancy certificate, NOC for water, electricity and sewage connection, house property tax transfer, income certificate, trade and occupation license, advertisement permission, house tax, birth/death certificate, information under RTI and permissions for hiring other facilities from BMC.
“This section will be useful as it provides detailed information and various documents needed for it, other sections of the website are equally helpful as it try to answer almost all the queries of the people,” explained the vice chairman.
Even though at present the tender section on the website is empty, there are plans to display the upcoming tenders on the site so that anyone could get an access to it.