New Delhi rolling out municipal kiosks

Between now and October about 2,000 municipal kiosks are set to spring up around the Indian capital of New Delhi, according to Afaqs!, which bills itself as "the complete Indian advertising, media and marketing site."

The interactive kiosks will allow citizens to access government information and manage transactions. To start off, the kiosks will provide information on railway schedules, tourism and information on municipal services provided by the Delhi Development Authority, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Government of Delhi. Eventually, the kiosks are intended to provide a range of services — including making payments, filing public grievances, booking tickets, filing renewals, issuing government certificates and downloading forms — all from the same outlet.

The kiosks are part of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's Aapke Dwar project and are meant to provide a single window for a variety of services which citizens need from various government departments. Bartronics India, a Hyderabad-based company, secured the rights to the project on a build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) basis, and the first kiosk was installed recently at Paharganj, near the New Delhi railway station.