The critical infrastructure of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir gets a boost from automation technological advancements, as the J&K Public Works Department Online Management System (JKPWDOMS) automates the major functioning of The J&K Public Works Department.
The J&K Public Works Department with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC-Silchar), has recently launched the first phase module of development of web portal J&K Public Works Department Online Management System (JKPWDOMS). This administrative portal is an online system to automate the major working processes of the department including human resource management, infrastructure management, online project proposal, project execution, tendering, BOQ, quality control, contractor management, maintenance and accounting.
Citizen’s Portal is an integrated section of the project for giving better and faster services to the citizens. Through this section, citizens will be able to communicate easily with concerned officers to address their suggestions/complaints. The ease of business is one of the main objectives of the project. Application for road cut and contractor will be fully automated with minimum physical human interaction. Citizens will get timely updates on their service request through the application.
The portal majorly uses a blend of technologies such as end to end solution of PW (R&B) Department, automatic performance evaluation of engineers and departments from online evaluation of timely execution and quality of projects, online certification of contractor registration, GIS based infrastructure management, online framing of DPR with facility for Non-SOR item analysis, GIS based tracking of ongoing projects, snipping tool for duplicity of road, automatic calculation of road length through GIS data, automatic detection of duplicity of contractors registering in more than one department, automatic prioritisation of asset maintenance based on condition index viz PCI, service life, etc.
Ranjan Yengkhom, HoD, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC-Silchar) says, “This initiative will help in establishing transparency and efficiency of work in the department. All the data like human resource information, contractor information, project proposals should be uploaded on the portal so that an efficient and smooth mechanism is developed for contracting different civil works. The general public shall also be aware of the working system of the department, which will guarantee safety of public interests.”
“All modules are interlinked starting from Human Resource Management, Contractor Management, Project Estimation, Project Execution, Quality Monitoring and finally Billing and Accounting. Grievance Management is one of the important components of the project. Citizens can register their grievances through the application or from Mobile App. Timely management and redressal of grievances is a priority for the Public Works Department,” comments Ranjan.
The JKPWD manual has been adopted from the British system of engineering practices. It describes all those engineering practices that have been standardised and used by all engineers for their respective work. It includes the detailed roles, responsibilities of all the officials, mechanism of project proposals, execution, tendering, accounting, contractor management, quality mechanism and maintenance mechanism.