Govt plans to barcode e-despatch letters to prevent forgery

OST Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 7
In order to prevent forgery of government letters issued on the internet by Odisha government for public access, the Information Technology Department has mooted barcoding of official despatches.
Each letter issued through the e-despatch system of the government would bear a unique barcode stamp that would guarantee its authenticity, according to a proposal submitted before the General Administration (GA) Department.
“Every letter issued through e-despatch will have an automatically generated barcode stamp. It will enhance the security feature for the letters issued to public on e-despatch as barcodes and the numbers generated thereof cannot be faked,” said Madhu Sudan Padhi, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, IT Department. The barcoded number would ensure authenticity of the letter and can be verified over the internet and via SMS, he added.
Even though all government letters bear a unique number, it could not be verified as all the letters are not issued through the e-despatch system on the government’s official website. Taking advantage of this, mischievous elements have forged certain letters.
Meanwhile, the government has faced severe flak for its failure to upload letters of a host of departments, particularly Home, Water Resources and Planning and Coordination departments, the first two held by the Chief Minister. Belying the government claim of transparency, seven departments including Tourism & Culture, Fisheries &ARD, Science and Technology and Sports and Youth Affairs are yet to start their e-despatch service.