Shimla: The Government of Himachal has finalised an action plan for total computerisation of the Rural Development Department which would cover all the 76 development blocks and 3,243 Gram Panchayats of the hilly Indian state.

Disclosing this at a meeting, Information Technology Secretary BK Aggarwal said that the block management information system (MIS), a computerised solution developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for maintenance of accounts and monitoring of construction works, will be implemented in all the 76 blocks.

He said that the software has been found very useful during trial run in Kandaghat block and added that the system works on double entry system of accounting and generates all mandatory reports on a click of mouse.

Aggarwal said that the financial transactions are captured directly from the vouchers and linked with development works being executed through Panchayats.

"Video conferencing facility will be created in each block with total expenditure of about Rs 4 crore. This facility will be used for providing training to functionaries at block level about various schemes of Rural Development," the IT Secretary said.

He said that it will also be used by the farmers for taking advice from the experts of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries departments and added that the network will be extended to the agriculture and horticulture universities also.

"The video conferencing between farmers and experts will be scheduled on fixed days at each block," Aggarwal said.

Rural Development Secretary Shrikant Baldi informed that to bring transparency in the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), all the information like name of the works, money spent and names of the workers will be provided on the Internet.

He said that MIS Software called 'Swaraj' will be implemented in at least 100 Panchayats on pilot basis in the first phase and afterwards it will be rolled out in all the 3,243 Panchayats in the state.

"Swaraj is a comprehensive software covering almost all the functions of Panchayat like birth and death registration, maintenance of pariwar register, village baseline information and construction works management," Badli said.