Telangana: IDOC’s bring govt closer to people, eases administration
Integrated District Offices Complexes coming up in all districts are bringing the govt closer to people
Hyderabad: ‘For the people’ has been one of the driving factors of governance in Telangana. One of the first steps towards this was decentralising administration by bifurcating existing districts into new ones, making it easier for people in all parts of any district to reach the district headquarters.
Now, the State government is extending the fruits of this move further by helping people with multiple grievances to save time and effort, by offering them all the services under one roof, literally.
The Integrated District Offices Complex (IDOC) is one such concept, which in effect is to achieve twin benefits — helping people meet officials easily and helping officials get work done much faster, along with better coordination between departments.
Take the case of the Jagtial IDOC, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao recently. As many as 32 government offices will be functioning from the IDOC, with a reception that will guide people to the specific office or official they have to approach.
For MA Faruqi, a physically challenged person from Korutla town, who visits different offices with various applications, the architecture and facilities at the new IDOC are crucial. The earlier Collectorate in Karimnagar did not have an elevator, which made it difficult for Faruqi. “There is a lift facility here and all the officials I need to meet are here. No more running around the entire town for me,” he said.
Jagtial Collector G Ravi said the IDOC, from an administrative point of view, would help in better supervision since Additional Collectors and all other officers would be available in the same complex. The erstwhile Karimnagar has three more IDOCs, including the Peddapalli IDOC, which was inaugurated in August, and the Rajanna-Sircilla IDOC, which was opened in July. The Karimnagar IDOC is under construction.
In erstwhile Warangal, IDOCs are already functioning at Hanamkonda and Jangaon in the six new districts. The IDOC at Mahabubabad is ready for inauguration, while the one at Bhupalpally will be ready by March. Officials said land was identified for the Mulugu IDOC, while efforts were on to identify land for the Warangal IDOC.
Hanamkonda Collector Rajeev Gandhi Hanumanthu said the IDOC, accommodating all major district offices, has become a great advantage for officials and the people. “Earlier, people were forced to visit offices located at different places in the city to follow up their grievances/complaints. Now, every district office is under one roof. People need not spend money to travel from one office to another. For officials, they can attend calls or video conferences with short notice,” he said, adding that the rush on Grievance Day held every Monday had come down as grievances were being sorted out much faster by calling officials concerned to the Collector’s chamber.
Potlapally Veerabhadra Rao, an RTI activist and advocate, said the IDOC has come as a great advantage for people like him who visit different offices with complaints. “We can now save time and money as all offices are at one place,” he said.
The Kothagudem IDOC is ready for inauguration. Shifting of offices will take place soon after its inauguration by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. According to Collector Anudeep Durishetty, the IDOC would play a vital role in taking the administration closer to the people as district offices of 45-plus departments would be functioning under one roof.
“It is like a one-stop-shop for discharging all government duties and for people to get any official work done,” he said, adding that in terms of infrastructure, the new Collectorate was much better than the existing government offices as there was larger space for officers. More importantly, there would be better coordination and meetings could be called at short notice.
It was planned to construct two bus shelters on either side of the road in front of the IDOC for the convenience of people, in addition to a foot-over-bridge so that people can easily cross the road with the IDOC located by the side of the busy NH30. Talks were on with NHAI officials, he added.
The IDOC at Yadadri-Bhongir district houses 31 offices of different departments. Speaking to Telangana Today, M Laxmaiah from Bibinagar said the IDOC was helping people in getting different works done in a single visit. Earlier, the office of the Superintendent of Engineer (irrigation) was at one place and the DE office was at another place, making it difficult for the common man to reach both places without much delay.
Work on the IDOC for Suryapet district is 70 per cent completed and is expected to be operational in about two months. The IDOC at Siddipet was the first new collectorate building opened in the State. After the Telangana government created new districts in October 2016, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao laid the foundation for the Siddipet Collectorate complex the same day. The Collectorate was built close to the Rajiv Rahadhari at Duddeda. The Chief Minister inaugurated the building on June 20, 2021, with 56 departments functioning under one roof.
The IDOC, which has facilities for the differently abled, also has a creche for children of employees and visitors, a bank, a post-office and several other facilities.
