Chandigarh, December 14: In a bid to bring transparency and efficiency in the entire process of releasing State Government Advertisements and Payments to media houses, Haryana Government has launched Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) Software.

While inaugurating this online system, Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal said that after the launch of this software, release orders and payment of advertisement bills will be done through this online system. He said that the payment of bills should be made within a period of 30 days to the concerned media houses after the submission of bills. This system will be made operational from December 15, 2020. Although, the old cases of payment will not be dealt through this new software, however all such cases will soon be disposed off.

During the launch, Chief Minister while virtually interacting with representatives of various media houses requested them to send the list of pending bills to the department so that no bills remain pending till March 31, 2021.

Mr. Manohar Lal said that with the launch of this software, entire process of issuing release orders and bills will be made computerized. With this, the government department or organization will be able to make online request/ application for their advertisements to the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department.  As per the received requests, a media plan will be generated online. The approval of a media plan for print media and the generation of a release order will be done as per the online workflow. This online system will benefit the print media, news agencies as well as the Department.

Mr. Manohar Lal said that every challenge brings many opportunities with it. Several 'in house’ application and progammes have also been developed by the State Government during the COVID-19 Pandemic and ERP is also one of them. The special feature of this software is that it has been developed completely 'in house' with the help of NIC and if any problem arises, it can be resolved immediately, said the Chief Minister.

Addressing the media representatives, Mr. Manohar Lal said that they should publicize this unique initiative of Haryana Government, so that other states may also adopt the same.

The Chief Minister said that the development of this online system also indicates how information technology can be used in the public interest. He said that in the coming time the Parivar Pehchan Patra scheme will provide direct benefit at the grassroot level.

While speaking to the representatives of the media houses, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, V. Umashankar said that if there is any problem in the working of this software, then the IT team of media houses can work jointly with the IT team of the Department to overcome all such issues.

Director General, Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Mr. P.C Meena said that making the system online will certainly prove to be beneficial for both the Department and the Media Houses. Earlier the billing process was started only when 50 percent of the bills were received from the media houses included in the release order, but with the implementation of this online system, the release orders will be issued separately and their billing can also be done separately.  This online process will end the reconciliation issues too. A dashboard will be made for Department and Media Houses on which all the information regarding release order and payment will be available, said Mr. P.C Meena. 

Representatives of various media houses who joined through video conferncing thanked the Chief Minister and the State Government for taking this unique initiative and said that this will simplify the entire system and solve the problem that has been going on for years.

On this occasion, Principal OSD to Chief Minister, Mr. Neeraj Daftuar, Additional Director (Administration), Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Mrs. Varsha Khangwal and Deputy Director (Advt.), Information, Public Relations and Languages Department Ms. Urvashi Rangara was also present. Media Advisor to Chief Minister, Mr. Amit Arya attended the programme through video conferencing.