Bhopal, July 22 (IANS) The Urban Development and Housing Department of the Madhya Pradesh government has formulated an action plan for the year 2025–26 to expand civic services through e-governance and IT integration.

As per the plan, all urban services will be upgraded using new technologies and made available online via the e-Nagar Palika 2.0 portal and mobile application, an official told IANS on Tuesday.

While the earlier version, e-Nagarpalika 1.0, had already digitised several municipal functions, including citizen services, grievance redressal, payment systems, and internal workflows, the upgraded platform expands this framework with deeper inter-departmental integration.

Version 2.0 will now connect municipal operations with other state-level digital infrastructure and platforms like the UMANG mobile app. This shift aims to simplify access to civic services and improve data-sharing between departments, a move aligned with broader e-governance goals.

An advanced version of technology has been introduced to streamline urban governance, making it the first state to integrate all urban local bodies (ULBs) under a single digital platform.

“This initiative supports the goals of Digital India by promoting transparent, efficient and timely delivery of citizen services in urban areas. Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to bring all its urban local bodies under a single unified portal,” an official said.

Further, to enable planned and sustainable urban development and to ensure effective monitoring of departmental operations, a real-time analytical dashboard is being developed.

“A major initiative is the integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) into e-Governance, aimed at making urban development more data-driven and transparent. The GIS portal will be developed using over 90 key data layers,” the official added.

Additionally, the department is also working on an Automated Building Plan Approval System (ABPAS) 3.0 portal where citizens across all urban bodies will be able to obtain building permits online.

The advanced system will also include the provision of making the colony development approval process fully digital in the coming days.

To further enhance digital governance, efforts are underway to enable bill payments for all types of taxes and non-tax services via a WhatsApp chatbot, along with providing related service information.

–IANS

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