GPMS (Gram Panchayat Management System) is a part of the e-Governance initiatives
of the Panchayats & Rural Development Department of the Government of West Bengal,
focused to Gram Panchayats which is the lowest tier of the three-tier Panchayati
Raj system and the institution closest to the common people. It is a program designed
in-house by the Computerization Cell of the Department. The prime focus of the software
is to standardize the accounting system of the PRIs and to make account keeping easy,
transparent and comfortable to the users. Double Entry Cash Basis accounting system is
followed in the software. GPMS also helps the Gram Panchayats in rendering a number of
citizen centric services viz., issue of Birth & Death Certificates, Assessment of Tax on
Land and Buildings, Issue of Trade Certificates etc.
GPMS was first introduced in the year 2003 at Bilkanda-II Gram Panchayat
under Barrackpur-II Panchayat Samiti in the District of North 24 Parganas.
Since then, the process of implementation has come a long way. All the Districts
in West Bengal now have considerable numbers of Gram Panchayats using the software
on a regular basis. As a direct consequence, improvements, both qualitative and
quantitative, in Gram Panchayat Accounting are now clearly visible. The immense
possibilities with digitized accounting data are now being explored by the Department.
The support services for the software are controlled directly by the Department through
its team of trained support personnel.
This website was designed as a part of the management
initiatives for running of GPMS in the State. Apart from helping the Department, it also enables
the District and Block level authorities to keep themselves informed of the status of running of
GPMS in their respective jurisdictions and take administrative decisions based on such information.
It is also open for public in general, especially for people who are interested in electronic
Governance.
To make the accounting in Gram Panchayats even more transparent, monthly statements of
accounts (Form 26) have also been made available at the website. The concerned Gram Panchayats
themselves upload these reports directly to the website. Efforts are on to make the audit reports
also available for public viewing.