Service, guaranteed: Sakala comes into effect on Apr 2

Sakala, popularly known as the Citizens’ Charter or Karnataka Guarantee of Services Act, will come into force across the state from today. Over 151 services of 11 government departments will come under Sakala’s purview.

Sakala ensures services are provided in a timely manner in various departments of revenue, finance, administration, urban development, village panchayat, food and civil supplies, women and child development, health, education and transport.

Provision of death and birth certificates, sanction of building plans, change of khata, provision of student bus passes, issue of new or additional water connection, driving licences, etc are some of the services on offer.

There is a penalty of `20 per day for delay in providing services. Applicants will be given a 14-digit number, which can be used for future correspondence.

The scheme was already implemented on a pilot basis across four taluks of Aurad (Bidar), Chitradurga, Dharwad and Puttur (Dakshina Kannada), and Jayanagar BBMP office in Bangalore.
During the month-long pilot study, 1 lakh applications were filed and 87,000 were disposed of.