WALKING INTO the collectorate in Saharsa, one can easily be confused. Tables are no longer burdened with dusty files and corridors are no longer congested by rusty almirahs. Instead, there are laptops all around and e-tracking of information is the mantra. From the dealing assistant to the district magistrate, the movement of files has been seamless. That is because Saharsa has become the first district in Bihar to have gone completely paperless. At any level or hierarchy in the office, a file can be kept for a maximum of three days. If there are delays, it is easy to fix accountability because even when an official is outside the office — if they are travelling or at home — they can still dispose of the file. Saharsa District Magistrate Anand Sharma, a 2013-batch IAS officer, told The Indian Express: “While working with the Cooperative Department in Patna, I had the first-hand experience of the benefits of a department going paperless. It was the first such department in Bihar to have achieved the feat [in 2020]. When I joined Saharsa as DM early this year, the first thing I did was to make the office paperless.” The process took time and money. About 3 lakh pages of about 5,000 files, at the cost of 34 paise a page, had to be scanned and converted into digital files. The process started this February with workshops to train employees and stakeholders. But all the efforts are bearing fruit. The e-office in Saharsa, a district in the Kosi region and one which often gets affected by droughts, comes in very handy. With the new system in place, diesel and fertiliser subsidies can be sped up for farmers. “Decision-making is fast now. We can track the file movement anytime now. Officials know they have to explain the reasons for any delay in disposal,” said Sharma, explaining that a lot of money is now saved on stationeries. Another immediate benefit of an e-office, added the DM, is that unlike in the past when the mere absence of an official could derail the office work because the file might have been difficult to locate, now work never suffers because it is easy to track and locate a file. Apart from the ease of use, the new system also provides better security. Sharma said that while in the previous system there was no confidentiality about files, the new system has not only expedited the file movement immensely but also raised the element of confidentiality. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox "E-office is the need of the time in the post-Covid scenario,” said Sharma. Since the threat of Covid still looms, the DM said that going paperless has ensured that the office always remains functional. “It is not necessary to be in the office to run the office anymore,” he said. At least 15 departments of the Bihar government have gone fully or partially paperless by now. But of 38 Bihar districts, only the Saharsa collectorate has gone paperless. The DM said: “The best part of the e-office is that I can now dispose of files while travelling.” Next on Sharma’s agenda: To make the sub-divisional offices go paperless.
