17 June,2014 06:25 AM IST | | Priyankka Deshpande
A state agency, Vasundhara, has distributed mobile phones with GPS and an app to help field officers file reports and upload them to the central server from the site itself
Project Manager Yashwant Kenjale, Agriculture College
The Integrated Water Management Program (IWMP) in various districts across the state will now be monitored with the help of an integrated mobile application. State nodal agency Vasundhara is using technology to track the progress reports of various IWMP projects.
Project Manager Yashwant Kenjale shows officials how the mobile app works, at a farm near Agriculture College in Pune. Pic/Mohan Patil
With mobile phones distributed to officials in-charge, they will be able to click pictures of the sites, write reports based on their observations and submit it to the Union Ministry of Rural Development which is then automatically uploaded to the central server and available for the public to view.
"From June 1, we have started the mobile based monitoring of water management programs across the state on pilot basis. The reason for starting this system is to speed up the reporting process, which earlier faced delays," said Deputy Project Manager, IWMP (Pune district), Yashwant Kenjale.
"With the help of this system, officers will be able to send reports on area and drainage treatment from the project site itself," added Kenjale. Presently, the system is being used in Bhor and Purandar Taluka in Pune district where a water management project was in progress.
This system is the brainchild of Joint CEO, IWMP, and assistant CEO of Vasundhara, Ganesh Chaudhari. Speaking to mid-day, Chaudhari said that with the rapid reporting process initiated by the system, the reports would be accessible to citizens in time and will also bring in transparency.
"Vasundhara has distributed mobile phones with GPS technology and the unique application developed by Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre, Nagpur, to field officers in each district. Along with uploading the reports quickly to the central server, it also save the name of the field officers and the groundwork they have done on the field. Thus we able to keep a track on whether our officers are working efficiently on the field or not," said Chaudhari.
