A panchayat in the tribal belt of Maharashtra has adopted paperless governance, courtesy the eOffice system extending its reach to the grassroots level.
Rohini, located in Maharashtra’s Dhule district, is possibly the first village panchayat in the country to implement the eOffice system, a digital workplace solution for government offices.
Vishal Narwade, chief executive officer, Dhule Zilla Parishad, said the eOffice system started in the village this year.
“It was mandated from January 1 for district level, we extended it to panchayat too,” said Narwade. He said Rohini is the first panchayat to operate in paperless eOffice mode, though there is no official data yet to confirm it.
Located at the foot of the Satpura hills near the state’s border with Madhya Pradesh, Rohini is a ‘PESA Gram Panchayat’, a term used for gram sabhas in scheduled areas which are empowered by the provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, also known as the PESA Act.
The panchayat has a population of 7,200 spreading over the main village — Rohini — and 7 hamlets (Jagnapada, Bomalyapada, Chirkhanpada, Kalapada, Dampada, Piplyapani and Navapada). Over 80% habitants of Rohini panchayat are tribals, mostly from the Pawara tribe.
Until recently, the residents of the panchayat had to walk miles to avail services as their hamlets were located 1-7 km away from the panchayat office. The advent of information and communication technology (ICT) in the village has changed the situation, with residents opting for online service delivery and grievances redressal.
The people at Rohini panchayat, which had a literacy rate of just 45% in 2011, now boast about achieving 100% digital literacy.
The panchayat uses at least eight different types of ICT platforms, including its own website that allows its residents to avail various services. The others include use of digital platforms such as eGramSwaraj, Panchayat Nirnay app for online participatory decision-making, citizen-centric service delivery via Common Service Centres (CSCs), Panchayat ICT lab for digital literacy, videoconferencing facility and Meri Panchayat app for grievance redressal and seeking suggestions.
The latest ICT initiative is the introduction of the eOffice system that helps the village panchayat officials send and receive files in electronic mode.
Speaking to , gram panchayat secretary Manoj Dilip Kumavat said that files from the Block Development Office are received and sent back using the eoffice, which was introduced in February this year.
Apart from its website, the Rohini gram panchayat also has its own YouTube channel, page, Instagram account and a WhatsApp group. It also released its own E-governance policy last year.
Narwade said bulk SMS and calling systems are used to disseminate information about government schemes, gram sabha meetings are held in physical and virtual mode where people of the village join remotely and telemedicine facility is available from the primary health centre to all the hamlets in the panchayat.
Rohini sarpanch Dr Anand Pawara said the digital initiatives introduced by the panchayat have ensured effective implementation of the government schemes on the ground.
Prasanna Kulkarni, a block-level health official, said the footfall of patients, particularly the number of institutional deliveries, has increased after adoption of ICT.
Rohidas Surmal Pawara, 30, a resident, said he has availed the online services for getting a birth certificate and registering his grievances regarding non-supply of drinking water and electricity.
The digital push by the Rohini gram panchayat has earned it accolades and awards. Recently, it bagged Gold in the National e-Governance Awards, 2025 under the newly added category —Grassroots Level Initiatives for Deepening Service Delivery at Gram Panchayats or Equivalent Traditional Local Bodies — which recognises digital initiatives by panchayats.
According to officials, representatives of other PESA gram panchayats have visited Rohini. It has been selected as the panchayat learning centre by -based Yashwantrao Chavan Academy Of Development Administration, the administrative training institute of the Maharashtra government, said Sharadchandra Mali, deputy director at the institute. For this, the Rohini panchayat received funding of Rs 7 lakh from the Central government, Mali said.
(The writer was in Rohini village on the invitation of Ministry of Panchayati Raj)
