Residents complain about poor digital services at e-seva centres in Greater Chennai Corporation wards
A growing number of residents across Chennai are voicing their frustration over the poor delivery of digital services at e-seva centres, which were meant to be a bridge between citizens and government departments and make the public-state interface smooth. Complaints have been pouring in from multiple neighbourhoods about long queues, malfunctioning systems, and centres that have not opened since the pandemic.
Residents said the Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) recent announcement of plans to establish new e-seva centres in all 200 wards to improve access to services such as Aadhaar updates, income and nativity certificates, was a welcome move, but it needed to first ensure that the existing e-seva centres were functional. They also urged the government to specify a timeline for this, and stick to it.
'In ward 182, residents come every day asking when the e-seva centre will reopen,' said K.P.K. Sathish Kumar, Opposition Leader in the GCC Council. The Perungudi zone centre, once run by Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited (TACTV) and inaugurated by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in 2015, has remained non-operational since the pandemic-induced lockdown.
The situation is no better in north Chennai. 'People are being sent to taluk office centres for basic services,' said T.K. Shanmugam, president of the Federation of North Chennai Residents' Welfare Associations. 'The coordination between departments is lacking. These centres should be efficient, and help people finish their tasks fast, not be a bigger burden for them,' he added.
Geetha Ganesh, secretary of the AGS Colony Residents' Welfare Association, pointed to systemic inefficiencies. 'The token system is never followed when there are crowds, and network issues are routine. For Aadhaar-related work, we're told to go elsewhere. That defeats the purpose of a one-stop neighbourhood digital centre,' she said.
While this has always been the case, the pressure has started mounting, as it usually does ahead of summer exam results, when thousands of students and families will require certificates to put in their applications for college admissions. With 60% of private centres — licensed by the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency or the Government of India — shut down due to poor viability, residents have naturally turned to the government, in this case, the GCC, for answers.
Lack of trained staff is another major hurdle. 'Many centres that did reopen are unable or unwilling to provide full services due to their staff's inadequate training,' said a councillor, adding that both staff and infrastructure need urgent upgrades.
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