Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia along with ministers during the launch of the scheme in September.

The Doorstep Service Delivery (DSD) scheme is yet to be fully effective but it has started shutting the door on Delhi's notorious network of touts, an extensive ground report by Mail Today has revealed.

This is a little more than two months after the big experiment rolled out to home-deliver 40 key services from seven Delhi government departments.

Mail Today re-visited some of the Delhi government offices in Civil Lines, Mall Road, Burari, Janakpuri and Matiyala and found that the number of well-entrenched touts has reduced sharply after the scheme was launched on September 10.

Gopal Mohan, advisor to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the brain behind the DSD scheme, said, "The project is killing the tout culture. Touts are slowly disappearing from different government departments. It is designed in a way that it shrinks the space for touts."

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Under the scheme, a person dials a 24x7 helpline, 1076, and the call centre takes details and informs her about the documents required and the payment to be made for the service sought for.

This costs Rs 50. After an appointment is booked (slots are available between 8 am and 10 pm), a mobile sahayak (facilitator) carrying a biometric device and a camera visits the home. And a delivery process starts. The person gets a confirmation text.

The services include certificates for marriage, birth, caste, income and disability, besides driving licences, ration cars, domiciles and water connections. Most calls are related to requests for various certificates that revenue and transport departments issue. So far, 15,621 applications (10,000 revenue and 5,621 transport) have been disposed and certificates/licences home-delivered.

"About 25 lakh people used to visit government offices in a year for these services, though they have been online for a long time. Such visits meant the tout business boomed in government offices. This is changing," said a government official.

IT'S WORKING!

Private school teacher Pooja Verma's hopped around government offices and stood in long queues to have her water connection details updated after she bought a house in Kamla Nagar. The 29-year-old dialled 1076. A mobile sahayak (facilitator) knocked on her door. Sangeeta Sharma of Shastri Nagar also had documents collected by a mobile sahayak after she applied for a learner's driving licence. She was told to visit a Motor Licensing Office (MLO) once for a driving test.

Green Park's Karisma Singhania and her husband - both working professionals - tried a lot to have a ration card made, but in vain. "We used the DSD service. A mobile sahayak came and photographed us with our six-yearold son," she said.

THE EXPANSION

The AAP government is now going for a massive expansion of the scheme's ambit. "We are making efforts to include maximum services under the scheme to reach every doorstep. The number of services will go up from the current 40 to 70 in a week. It will go up to 100 by the end of the year," Mohan said.

Currently, about 500 youngsters work at the call centre in Noida in three shifts. This is also likely to increase.

Advocate Alok Tripathi of Kalkaji said, "The scheme, once fully expanded, will save people's time, ensure official accountability and build a cordial citizen-government relationship."

MENACE REMAINS

But touts still operate from tea shops and parking areas near government offices. They remain in the business because different departments continue, and validly so, their practice of accepting applications for driving licences, vehicle registrations, ration cards and caste certificates.

Trilok Sharma, a resident of Janakpuri, said, "I applied for a driving licence through the DSD scheme on September 12. The call operator assured me the work will be done in a month. When I enquired about the status with the transport department, I was informed that my application has been rejected. Now, I have contacted a tout and given him the money he wants for the job."

Aashish Rao, a resident of Matiyala, had applied for a caste certificate but his application was rejected as he was unable to show original papers to the mobile sahayak.

"When I contacted the DSD call centre, they couldn't explain what was amiss. I should have at least received a text message that my application has been rejected," he said.

Delhi's Auto-Taxi Union president Santosh Kumar Pandey admitted that the DSD scheme is an exemplary step but said all the people, especially the poor, are not covered and touts are in demand mainly for services such as PAN/Aadhaar/voter ID cards and driving licences.

"Some of those whose applications are rejected under the DSD scheme due to incomplete documents sometimes approach touts. Eradicating the menace will take time. We're at it," Mohan said.

There is a web link on the Delhi government's website that directs users to the doorstep delivery of services project's form. Anyone can fill the form to get a call. "But touts easily target illiterate persons, drivers, people living in slums people who do not know how to fill forms themselves those who are not satisfied with the scheme," admitted a government official.

Cops say they are on the job. "Our enforcement wing officials are keeping an eye on touts roaming in and around government offices. We are also looking for officials who are in contact with them. Such an exercise is important for the effective implementation of the DSD scheme. What is also important is greater awareness among common people so that they don't approach touts," said a deputy commissioner-rank police officer.

BACKEND ISSUE

There are 350 mobile sahayaks under the DSD scheme and it is hard for them to reach many of the 4,500 people who approach its call centre every day. Each visits 8-10 houses a day. "We're working on a plan to hire 25,000 such facilitators," said a Delhi government official.

The government has hired VFS Global Services Pvt Ltd to run the scheme.

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