What students of Information Technology (IT) can do in less than a month at the cost of a few thousand rupees, the municipal corporation has not been able to achieve even after spending Rs 12 crore in 10 years.



And if that's not shocking enough, the civic agency is planning to spend Rs 58 crore more on completing the project it mooted as early as 2000.



The civic agency has been struggling for the past 13 years to put in place a user-friendly web portal, which can keep the residents connected with their municipal office.



According to an RTI reply, the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has in the past 10 years spent over Rs 12 crore on developing the web portal but it is still far from being complete and fully functional.

The website mcdonline.gov.in is loaded with information ranging from Right to Information (RTI) to trade licensing, but it is yet to start operations such as online bookings and payment for services.



The MCD was in 2011 trifurcated into East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and it was decided that there would be three different websites for each municipal corporation.



Now the home page of the civic agency has three links for the three wings but they merely provide information related to areas under the particular agency.



Officials of the municipal corporations said the web portal was slated to be completed before the trifurcation. The initial budget for starting and running the web portal was Rs 13 crore, but now the cost has been hiked to Rs 70 crore.



This money will be utilised in procuring equipment, hiring technicians and running the website, said a senior municipal official.



"The web portal will be completed soon. There will be complete server back up with over 70 functional software," said the official.



"Tech Mahindra is the implanting agency for the portal and Wipro is the consulting agency. There would be three different websites with their different policies. This has been delayed but it will be complete soon. We understand that people are having problems in absence of online activity and we will sort this out soon," the official added.



Once the website is fully functional, people will be able to book Barat Ghars online, pay their property tax and seek death and birth certificates online.