67% of Karnataka e-services still need office visits

Karnataka offers 1,981 government services online, but official data presented in the Legislative Assembly by Chief Minister D K Shivakumar shows that 67% of services covered by the Sakala Act still require applicants to visit government offices in person. Only 738 services are fully online with no physical visit needed.

Citizens face glitches on portals such as Seva Sindhu, Kaveri, Bhoomi, and e-Swathu, including slow pages, failed logins, delayed OTPs, and database outages. A cyberattack disrupted Kaveri 2.0 for a week in 2025, and a planned 24-hour shutdown of several portals was needed for data centre upgrades in June. The e-Swathu property-document process malfunctioned, forcing people back to offices.

Melukote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah said the government has only changed the medium, not the process, moving files from table to table to login to login. e-Governance Minister Priyank Kharge noted some citizens prefer physical interaction, but critics argue many turn to offices because online services fail. The gap is most burdensome for rural residents who must travel to taluk or district headquarters when digital services are inaccessible.