BIMS ODISHA

Boats are considered as one of the most common mode of transportation in our state because of its use in transport, commerce and livelihood activities. Boats also play an important role in our state because of its extensive use in local transport, tourism, health and during disaster management. Government of Odisha formulated “Odisha Boat Rules-2004” to ensure registration, renewal and proper checking of fitness for all types of Boats for safe navigation in the state. These rules also prescribe conditions for issuing license to Engine Drivers and other boat personnel. Directorate of Ports and Inland Water Transport, Odisha Bhubaneswar under the administrative control of Commerce & Transport (Com) Department, Government of Odisha is the nodal agency for implementation of the Odisha Boat Rule-2004 There are large number of boats plying in the inland water such as; Rivers, Reservoirs, Lakes & Canals etc. in the State whose details are not maintained properly due to manual process of registration & renewal of Boats. It is also not possible for tracking & monitoring of records as and when required by the authority. The poor boat owners are facing difficulties for registration and renewal of their boats. They usually come from remote area and attend the licencing authority’s office for which they lose both time and money in travelling and pursuing their registration and renewals. To overcome the above difficulties, Commerce & Transport Department of Odisha have developed an user friendly online software application i.e., Boat Information & Management System (BIMS) under 5T Charter through web-portal for managing the entire boat information system along with boat owner details centrally in one database. Under this web application, the boat owners and crew can apply online either for registration/ renewal and licenses online. They can also apply for route permit to operate their boats between Ghats located in Rivers/ Lakes/ Reservoirs. Each boat owner after registration will have a dedicated dash board for him/ her where he/she can track the status of his/her application. He/she can also download his registration certificate/ crew license/ boat permit from the dashboard itself after the same is approved by the respective authorities. For each of the State/ District authorities, this application will have a separate dashboard from where they can verify the application related documents and there pass appropriate orders. For fitness check, the surveyors at District level (Mechanical Engineering mostly) would upload the survey report in the system after physical verification. Thus this application would be beneficial for both boat owners and officials. It would also be useful for citizens as they would be able to know about various services available at various location in the state either for travelling or for tourism purpose.