Akshaya entrepreneurs in Ernakulam suspend K-Smart services over low service charges

Akshaya entrepreneurs in Ernakulam district, affiliated to the Akshaya Welfare Association, have unofficially suspended K-Smart services in protest against what they allege is an abysmally low service charge unilaterally fixed by the State government without any consultation.

On Friday (August 8, 2025), the association laid siege to the district project office and submitted a representation, along with their charter of rates, to the district project manager, who assured them that it would be forwarded to the State project office. The government had issued the order fixing service charges for K-Smart services on Wednesday (August 6, 2025).

“Unless the government decides to revisit the rates, we will go ahead and start charging service charges as per our charter from Saturday (August 9,2025). We cannot continue causing inconvenience to the public by suspending the delivery of K-Smart services,” said G.K. Sreeraj, secretary, Akshaya Welfare Association.

Meanwhile, Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh clarified that K-Smart, the digital platform developed by the Information Kerala Mission for the Local Self-Government department, was designed to be user-friendly, enabling anyone with basic computer skills to access it. However, people continue to rely on Akshaya centres. There have been complaints about service charges varying across centres, with some allegedly collecting exorbitant fees. The K-Smart service charges were fixed in this context, Mr. Rajesh said.

Since the launch of Project Akshaya 23 years ago, service fees have been revised only once—in 2018. Akshaya entrepreneurs have been up in arms ever since, citing the negligible revision, which they said did not reflect rising operational costs or the stiff competition from private citizen service centres.

“The sad part is that even the revised service charges for K-Smart services were fixed unilaterally and kept abysmally low,” said Mr. Sreeraj. He cited the example of the charge for changing building ownership—a process that involves scanning and uploading the title deed, possession certificate, consent letter from the previous owner, death certificate (if applicable), two pages of the Haritha Karma Sena register, and entering building details in both English and Malayalam. “This laborious process takes up to 30 minutes, yet the service charge is just ₹50,” he rued.

A similar situation exists with the service charge for marriage registration, said Mr. Sreeraj. The process involves entering the one-time password received by the bride, bridegroom, and two witnesses, uploading the Aadhaar cards and SSLC books of the couple, feeding in their personal details in both English and Malayalam, uploading the marriage certificate, and completing a video verification of the newly-wed couple. “The entire process takes up to 45 minutes, yet the service charge is just ₹70 for the general category and ₹50 for the scheduled category—while the government fee for marriage registration itself is ₹120,” he pointed out.