Process to restructure 500 sewa kendras on

PROPOSAL Govt is looking for a partner company that can operate, maintain and manage centres for five years on revenuesharing basis

JALANDHAR : After announcing to shut down around 75% sewa kendras, started by the previous Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, in January, the Punjab government has now started the process of restructuring the functioning of the remaining 500 sewa kendras across the state.

According to a notification issued to deputy commissioners recently by the department of governance reforms, a copy of which was accessed by this reporter, the government is looking for a partner company that can operate, maintain and manage the kendras for a period of five years on a revenue-sharing basis to provide B2C (business to citizens) services.

During a cabinet meeting in January, the government had decided to close down all but 500 sewa kendras out of the 2,147 kendras citing that they were causing a huge loss to the exchequer.

The cabinet had decided to serve a 180-day notice, as required, to end the contract with the current service provider of the sewa kendras. The contract with the provider, who was charging the government ₹220 crore annually, was for five years. It was pointed out during the discussion on the issue in the cabinet meeting that the sewa kendras were constructed at a cost of ₹200 crore, with ₹1,400 crore estimated to be spent on their operations in five years.

In the past one-and-a-half years, the state government has shelled around ₹113 crore as gap funds for running the kendras.

In the new model as mentioned in the notification, the new other party will have to operate and maintain the kendras on the selfsustainable mode and on revenue-sharing basis without any burden on the exchequer.

Out of the 500 kendras that will remain functional under the new model, the government is planning to divide the centres equally for urban and rural areas of the state. Under the new set-up, the Doaba belt will have a total of 87 sewa kendras with Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and SBS getting 34, 19, 20 and 14 centres respectively.