NEW DELHI: The civil aviation ministry is switching to an electronic office by moving all of its files to the intranet, an exercise that it expects to not only speed up its work but also make it more accountable.

The ministry plans to work out details of implementing the first of its kind move in the country this week and a pilot programme may start in a fortnight, officials said.

"The Prime Minister's directive is to clear files fast and that files should not stay with any officer for more than three days. We plan to make our office completely electronic and move all files on the intranet. The implementation strategy will be discussed in a meeting this week," said a senior civil aviation ministry official, requesting anonymity.

The plans marks a departure from the current practice of moving files manually from one office to another, which makes it very difficult to keep track of the time the officers take to clear the files. Although the ministry has a system to track the whereabouts of each file, it is not updated most of the times.

The official added that the new system will have an option for officers to write their comments on file. "Instead of the hard copy being circulated, all files will be on the intranet. This will not just make it faster but also more transparent," said the official.

Officials said the switch will prove useful so long as it is monitored. "This will be a good move by the ministry but the file movement should also be tracked at the highest level. Intranet simplifies the process of tracking and we expect the monitoring to improve with the ministry becoming an electronic office.

We would also like to see the Directorate General of Civil Aviation becoming electronic," said an airline executive, who did not wish to be identified.

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government, which took charge in May, wants greater use of internet and mobile phones to expand the Centre's reach to every nook and corner of the country. The Prime Minister has asked the communications and IT ministry to work on a project to make government services available on mobile phones.