Flawed tablets delay Navi Mumbai census, again

If you're a resident of Navi Mumbai, and are waiting in anticipation for the numbers of the third phase of the socio-economic and caste based census being carried out in your part of the city, then you'd be dejected to know that your wait has just gotten longer. All thanks to a bunch of faulty tablets issued to do the task. A MiD Day report confirms that several units of the tablet, while were supplied by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) have been found to have serious technical snags, resulting in massive delays.

The faulty tablets! (Image credit: MiD Day)

The problem, reportedly just doesn't end here. In one of their previous reports, it was highlighted just how late the officials at the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) received their bunch of tablet computers from BHEL, already causing a delay. The officials were supposed to carry out the two phases, October 2 to November 11 and November 18 to December 31. However, back then, officials cited issues like delay in the procurement of sufficient tablet PCs, and the recruitment of manpower to operate them as cause of the delay. Reportedly, 239 of the 700 tablet computers, which BHEL supplied in January, were found to have technical glitches - PCs breaking down during crucial data collection, or instances of the keys falling off.

One of the officials, quoted in this report stated, "We are not able to feed data in these tablet PCs. Technical snags are forcing them shut; it's a blue screen error. Also, keys on board come out, even when we gently press them. Actually, we need over 700 tablet PCs to carry out the Census but the 239 tablets have broken down even before we started. So we started with just 461 PCs. But, even these tablets are breaking down rapidly."

The officials have placed their complaints with BHEL, who've agreed to repair the technical issues, or replace them with new ones.