SMS is the Way to Stay in Touch Even for the PWD

That the SMS is a trendy means of communication amongst the young generation is now common knowledge. The older generation, however, seems to be catching up fast and how. The government of Maharashtra is using this smart little service to stay in touch with its contractors of the
brick and mortar world. The state public works department (PWD) is beaming out tender notices for proposed projects. While this service currently used to send short tender notices upto Rs 5 lakh is reported to have generated a `fairly positive response’ from the contractors, efforts are now on to extend the `sms-ing’ to heavy tenders too.

For a government department hitherto, stuck with outdated cyclostyled machines and huge mounds of paperwork, this is nothing short of a major shot in the arm for the government communication apparatus, in fact a big leap forward.

The Pune division has nearly 500 contractors availing of this facility. The idea is to pass on tender-related information as soon as possible. This not only saves time and cost for publishing advertisements in the conventional media, but also adds transparency to the system.

According to reliable sources, the department has tied up with almost all mobile service providers in order to offer this service to contractors. Sources stated that similar responses have also been received from the remaining five PWD divisions in the state. There are almost 21,000 registered contractors in the department and of these almost 40 percent receive such information through `sms-ing’. The contractor has to pay an annual fee of Rs 1,000 in order to receive such information on his mobile as well as on email. This is the first time any government department has introduced this service. The key feature of this service is that information is instantly fed into 250 locations across the state. The information is then screened accordingly and passed on to contractors as per their demands 

Nanda Kasabe