Prottoyon fails to get momentum
Prottoyon -- an online platform providing all types of certification services -- has failed to gain the desired momentum since its inception in 2019.
The certification facilities from the chairmen and councillors are still limited to only 319 union parishads out of 4,567, at 25 municipalities out of 328 and two city corporations out of 12 in the country.
Even in those areas where the online service is available, service seekers and service-providing local representatives claimed that they find it difficult to work with and often opt for the age-old manual system.
The project started on a pilot basis in Chattogram City Corporation and Ramu upazila in 2019 under the Local Government Division (LGD) and was funded by a2i.
The platform issues marital status, inheritance, character, nationality, citizenship, land, voting, ethnicity, identity, freedom fighter, income and other certificates.
The land ministry has recently integrated its online mutation service with the platform as well.
Service-seekers were supposed to get certificates in an hour by logging in to Prottoyon's portal and paying a service charge of less than Tk 30, according to its website.
However, several service-seekers told this correspondent of the many hassles they faced along the way of issuing a certificate online -- from submitting applications online to obtaining the certificate.
Fatima Parvin, a resident of Chapainawabganj municipality, said she had to visit the municipality office multiple times to obtain a citizen certificate after applying through Prottyon.
"The application was full of errors though I submitted it correctly," she claimed.
Arif Hossain, a shopkeeper of Ward-7 of West Sholoshahar in Chattogram, applied for a character certificate after paying the service charge.
"But my application was not successful as the system showed charges unpaid. I had to pay the charges again for a successful application," he said.
"The manual process was much easier. I could just go to the councillor's office to fill out a pre-formatted certificate and get the authorised signature," added Arif.
Tofail Ahmed, secretary of Ward-7 of West Sholoshahar, said he faced difficulties getting access to the system while trying to correct some mistakes in the application.
"People often make mistakes on their application and ask for corrections. To correct this, we have to apply for technical support from Olvine. Unless they are okay, we cannot move forward. This only makes the process more time-consuming," he said.
Olvine Limited is a private company that manages and provides technical support to the web portal.
"Due to the hassle in online payment, service seekers often ask for manual support for certification," added Tofail.
Saifuddin Ahmed, secretary of ward-23 of Narayanganj City Corporation, echoed the same.
Mohammad Samawat Ullah, managing director of Olvine, said they received only a handful of complaints on "unpaid" issues.
"It happens in only five to seven percent of cases due to the glitch by wallet service providers. We're not responsible for it," he said.
"Many officials still prefer a manual system due to a lack of technological knowledge. That's why they keep complaining," said Samawat.
He said that they could not expand the service to wider areas primarily due to the pandemic.
Besides, initial non-cooperation from the local representatives also slowed the expansion, he said.
The Cabinet Division in a letter on February 3 directed LGD to introduce Prottoyon in all city corporations, municipalities and union parishads.
In an order passed on February 27, LGD asked the deputy commissioners to introduce Prottoyon in the union parishads under their jurisdiction. LGD is also working on upgrading its manual services online through different vendors.
The ministry provides 128 services through its different local government organisations, Shafiqul Islam, a programmer at LGD, told this correspondent.
"We're trying to bring all services under one platform. We are currently scrutinising documents of applicants who took part in the tender," he said.
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