Andhra to publish GOs, files online

All orders and files of the Andhra Pradesh government can now be accessed by citizens at the click of a mouse, making it the first state in the country to throw itself open to online scrutiny by the people.

The southern Indian state on Monday announced that the initiative will enable all 30 departments of the government to upload their respective government orders (GOs) on Government Order Issue Register website as soon as they are released, reports IANS.

Announcing this at a press conference, here, the state Information Technology and Communications Secretary Suresh Chanda also said that all GOs issued since February last have been made available on the website.

“At one click, you can see all government orders issued on a single day. For example, all 104 government orders issued today (Monday) are accessible on the net,” he said.

The state IT department is also taking up a separate project to put all old GOs on the website for public access. However, the government has decided not to publish “certain confidential GOs” on the net, he said.

“This will make life easier for the common people easier who had to run from pillar to the post to get such information” Chanda said adding that the move was in accordance with the Right to Information Act that calls for proactively providing information to the citizens.

The state government has also decided to do away with the existing manual system of publishing GOs. It has also decided to make all state gazettes available online from July 1 this year.

The availability of GOs on the net is one of the three major e-Governance initiatives announced by Andhra Pradesh to bring transparency in its functioning.

The state government is also planning to make available government file along with its notes by different officials through yet another website that will be integrated with the official website of the Andhra government .

The portal that is scheduled to be launched on July 1 this year will also integrate all departments and will serve as a single gateway for all information about government departments and orders.