Making a call to the State government to take adequate steps to protect Akshaya e-centres, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Pannian Ravindran has said that the crisis faced by the centres affects thousands of families.
He was inaugurating a Secretariat march organised by the Forum of Akshaya Centre Entrepreneurs (FACE), a Statewide collective of Akshaya entrepreneurs, on Saturday demanding among other things a revision of the service charges, which has not been revised in close to a decade.
Mr. Ravindran said that the authorities had to pay attention to the plight of the owners of Akshaya centres, which were the digital faces of the government’s services for the public.
Third phase
The Secretariat march, in which entrepreneurs from across the State participated, was the third phase of the protests. The Akshaya centres had downed shutters for a day in August as part of the first phase of the protest. On September 11, the centres functioned for more than the stipulated time.
Kovalam MLA M.Vincent, FACE State president Stephen John, and others participated in the protest.
According to the entrepreneurs, they have to spend from their own pockets for all expenses related to running the centres, from the wages of the workers to the room rent, utility charges and the cost of printers and copiers. However, the service charges have not been revised for close to 10 years despite several requests. The government did not provide any incentives during the floods or after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Other demands
The entrepreneurs have also demanded solutions for Aadhaar-related issues, an end to unilateral decision making in the contracts for Akshaya centres, and steps to regulate unauthorised centres providing services similar to the Akshaya centres. They have also demanded simplified procedures to transfer the ownership of Akshaya centres to non-family members.
The Akshaya project, under the Kerala IT Mission, began more than 20 years ago as an e-literacy project, but later transformed into the State government’s most vital public service delivery mechanism, with the centres providing services ranging from online application for various government schemes and certificates and Aadhaar card enrolment. Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, Akshaya centres continued to work to enable the public to access various services.
