Mumbai: The Maharashtra government will launch a web portal and a mobile application called ‘Aaple Sarkar’ (our government) to encourage people to participate in e-governance and address public grievances, an official said here Thursday.

“The proposed web portal and mobile application shall handle citizens’ grievances redressal and receive suggestions or feedback for a more participative governance,” said an official from the directorate of information technology (DIT).

The DIT will develop the new system. It will coordinate with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Maha-Online, an existing state government website and the National Informatics Centre for setting up the new web portal and mobile application.

The CMO has decided to have a dedicated cell to run and operate the new system which is expected to be operational Jan 26, 2015.

The decision was taken last month at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to review the status of e-government in the state and find ways to take forward the implementation of the ‘Digital India Programme’ in Maharashtra.

Fadnavis has issued orders to set up an e-office in each department of the Mantralaya, for all correspondence sent by the district collectors and divisional commissioners to the state government headquarters in Mumbai.

He has directed that no hard copy file should be accepted by the CMO and a time-frame must be decided at the earliest to computerise the entire system.

The official said the DIT was also asked to take up with the centre the issue of integrating e-Know Your Customer with the e-office and discard the digital token system to make all operations more secure and effective.