Man has always dreaded the long queue that awaits him at any point of payment. It has been a perennial symptom of red tapism and absolute lethargy. Now the Kerala government is out to solve that problem for its citizens and has come up with the concept of FRIENDS.

FRIENDS is the acronym for Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient, Network for Disbursement of Services. It is a unique IT project taken up by the Government of Kerala, to take the benefits of Information Technology to the common man. It is a ‘Single Window Scheme’in which the consumer is given the option of paying for the common services rendered to him under a single roof. A significant aspect of this project is to treat the citizen who is paying for the services rendered to him as a valued customer who must be given all the respect that he deserves.

To put it simply, FRIENDS is a multiple agency bill collection system. As per the prevailing system, customers/ consumers/clients are issued a Bill/Demand Notice by the concerned agency providing services, based on which the various regional/sectional offices of the agency collect the payment. The FRIENDS project envisages facilitating the collection of various payments pertaining to payees within specified area limits like corporation municipality etc at a single centre. Every FRIENDS centre will have multiple counters and the payees can remit any payment at any counter. The FRIENDS software is specifically programmed to accept payments due to different agencies by incorporating the specific rules and regulations regarding remittances pertaining to each agency. The customer/client/consumer will be given an acknowledgement note/receipt for the amount remitted at the FRIENDS centers.

FRIENDS Centers
	FRIENDS Janasevanakendram is a one-stop Service Center where remittances can be effected quickly and various other services received.
	The Center works from 9 am to 7 pm (in two shifts) on all days including Sundays. The Center is closed on other public holidays including second Saturdays.
	A computer controlled queue and token management system eliminates the queue and avoids long waiting time.
	Emphasis is given to provide a comfortable ambience to the public.
	Help desks to provide information on remittances are being set up.
	There is a plan for a facility to record suggestions/complaints, which will be seriously reviewed on a regular basis and corrective actions taken.

The FRIENDS project has been implemented by the Information Technology Department, Government of Kerala through the Information Technology Mission in collaboration with various departments like the Kerala State Electricity Board, Kerala Water Authority, BSNL, Revenue Department, Civil Supplies Department, Motor Vehicles Department, Universities and the local bodies of the state. The entire technical support is provided by the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (CDIT), Thiruvananthapuram.

At present, apart from the Thiruvananthapuram Center, there are centers at Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikkod, Kannur, and Kasargod.

Water charges, telephone bills, electricity charges, payments to the Civil Supplies Department, payments to the Revenue Department, payments to the local body, payments to the Motor Vehicles Department and payments to universities are covered.

The software, developed by C-DIT in association with M/s Comtech IT Solutions, uses ASP, Windows 2000 and SQL RDBMS. The main feature of the software is that there is a provision for the adding up of modules and the easiness of operation even for a naïve user. Adequate provisions have been incorporated even at the user level to roll back the incorrect entries without affecting the database. The program is capable of checking redundancies and there by can avoid the duplication of records. Another outstanding feature is the robustness of the database. The search and retrieval capability of the package also ensures the validity of claims and is also helpful in identification and correction of errors. Reports can be generated in any form, which is statutory with the various requirements of the MIS divisions of the participating departments.

Sreekumar R in Trivandrum