BBMP alone has more than 10,000 pending Sakala applications

Bengaluru: The state government's Sakala, the law that guarantees delivery of citizen services within a stipulated time, in a bid to encourage people to make use of online channels to get services they need are not adequately available to the people in the city. Out of the total number of applications submitted for various services, 11,256 applications are pending in Bengaluru city.

The Sakala Act came into force in 2011, covering 1,115 services of 99 departments. Whereas, the Birth and death certificate should be issued within 3 to 7 days, re-evaluation of exam papers within 15 days, caste certificate within 21 days, driving licence within 30 days. Thus, different services have been given different time period as deadline.

If the deadline expires, the concerned officer has to pay compensation of Rs 20 per day to the applicant. In order to get the compensation or fine amount, the applicant has to submit another application to a senior officer.

Under the Sakala scheme, 21,53,46,382 applications have been filed in the state out of which 21,49,29,359 applications have been resolved. While, 4,17,023 applications are still pending. Of the pending Sakala applications, 11,335 applications were not disposed of by the Urban Development Department alone.

The highest number of applications are pending in the Bengaluru city district. Apart from Bengaluru urban, there are 50 applications in Shimoga district, 12 in Bangalore rural, 4 in Kalaburgi district, 3 in Belgaum district, 1 each in Dharwad, Hassan and Vijayapur districts.

Around 10,947 sakala applications have been pending in the BBMP in Bengaluru city district for several days. Next comes the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), with 275 applications pending for disposal. There are 72 applications in the Water Board, 53 in the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Board, 32 in the BMRDA and 13 in the Urban Development Authority, as per the reports in Sakala scheme.

The number of applications being disposed of after deadline time has been increasing year by year. "This would have been reduced if the fines or penalty were collected from the officer for delay in work.

The per day penalty price should be increased. Also, immediately after the due date, the amount of the penalty should be deducted from the salary of the officer and deposited in the applicant's account. Only then the Sakala Act can be enforced completly," said Pradeep Patil, One of the residents of Vijaya Bank layout, who is waiting to get a birth certificate after applying in the Sakala.