Kannur goes tech-savvy: E-governance mobile app 'We are Kannur' launched

If you find yourself in Kerala’s Kannur district for a day with time to spare and nothing to do… fret not, we have you covered.

From going to the Kannur paramotoring fest to visiting Asia’s longest drive-in beach or going mangrove kayaking, there are plenty of adventures to keep you entertained. No, we did not rip this information off from Google, but turned to ‘We are Kannur’, a mobile application launched by the district administration.

In a first of its kind initiative, Kannur now has a mobile app dedicated for the district. With the launch of ‘We are Kannur’ on Saturday, the northern district of Kerala got a mobile app that attempts to work as a one-stop destination when it comes to information on Kannur.

From government offices to police stations, hospitals and schools, ‘We are Kannur’ has an exhaustive database of contact numbers of every government office in the district.

The app will be useful not just for the people residing in the district, but also for those visiting Kannur.

An initiative of the district administration under Collector Mir Mohammed Ali, the app was developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Users can download the app on their Android phones and access contact details of hundreds of government offices. Apart from this, the app enables users to rate every office and service.

Not just government offices, but the app also lets users support social causes with just a click. Requirements from old age homes and orphanages are posted on the app, along with the quantity of items (torches, badminton rackets, books, etc.) required.

Over and above this, the mobile app also has direct links to the water authority and electricity board websites, so that users can pay their bills online.

On Saturday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the app at the government guest house. Later taking to Facebook, he said that the app contains information about 1,300 schools in the district, apart from Akshaya centres and other government offices.

“We can easily check the location of government offices and their timings. In case of emergency, the district administration can send public announcements through the app as well. This is an initiative that should be a model to others,” the CM wrote in Malayalam.