Is E-government only for paying penalties from traffic violation?

Driving down C-ring road is a breeze when there is hardly any traffic and you just might want that exhilarating feeling by stepping on the gas. Too late !! It’s only after you pass by, you see a flash of light and you know you have just been caught on Qatar’s candid camera. The next thing you want to know is if it’s just the heat or if you have just become one among the celebs in the e-government website offered by Qatar. It is very unfortunate that we have reduced the services provided by the e-government in Qatar down to just checking traffic violations. What e-government services do you use besides this? I have found that Qatar’s e-government website allows me to resolve multiple queries ranging from ‘applications to renew my licence’ to information on various ‘events in Qatar’; but why stop there? I wonder if we were to do a survey on what people would want from the online government services, what would we find? Maybe traffic assistance on the site which would help me decide on the best routes to get to my destination. This could be done by a service where you could log in with your mobile as you travel and allow you to be guided past traffic obstructions and send your position to breakdown services should you have any problems. How about an e-government mobile app which would give me information on events happening in a location as soon as I enter into their respective wifi range? That would be a relief when you want something to do with your time and you’re choices are right in front of you. Although this might seem surreal, this can also be an e-government feature which ideally should be promoted. Similar to travel sites which give information on flight timing, pricing, service providers, how about a site that gives comparisons on hospital charging schemes? This would help give any citizen an advantage on services provided in different hospitals with information on doctors, procedures, appointments and payment etc. The second most searched factor after health would be employment services like job profile availability, information on various profiles, companies and information on the respective contact people. Why shouldn’t companies advertise on a government site where anyone can log in and apply from home or maybe touch screen kiosks provided by the government at job centres where you could walk in and apply rather than having to drop off your resume at the reception and hoping that it doesn’t join the pile in the garbage disposal? Decision making is rarely easy, particularly in the complex world of electronic service delivery, where tradeoffs between widely differing requirement will have to be made. Wouldn’t you prefer to use a single system with these features rather than squeeze your brain juices into figuring out how best to use the search engine in your time of need.

Post by – Ankhiya Eapen