Goa: Tech-challenged citizens to get help at post offices

PANAJI: In a bid to provide efficient services to citizens, the department of posts, Goa will soon have a Citizen Service Centre (CSC) facility at some of its post offices. Equipped to provide a single window delivery mechanism for various government services, the CSC will ensure minimal interference of people by going the digital way.
“We already have facilities at every post office wherein staff help fill in forms and online applications on behalf of people who have difficulty accessing the web ,” a department of posts official told TOI.
There are a total of five divisions in the Goa circle – North and South Goa, Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. One CSC will be set up at Kolhapur in the first phase.
In the second phase, the CSCs will be set up at 17 post offices. We have proposed to set up the centres in Goa, at post offices in Ponda, Mapusa and Vasco in phase two.
“We will initially select a few locations and implement this system in phase one and two. If footfalls increase, we will integrate all other locations into this system. It will be done through the national informatics centre (NIC),” the official said.
The existing staff of the department will be trained to operate the CSCs in Goa. The training will include technical requirements like assisting the public, processing the applications of customers and submission to the state government which will be handled at the front-end office. The flow of work after receiving the documents will be handed at the back office. The back office staff will also require training. “We will reach out to the existing government departments where CSC is successfully operating to help train department of posts staff,” the official said.