Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday termed the performance of the Pakistan Citizen Portal as satisfactory and said that it could prove helpful in making the bureaucracy accountable.
Addressing a ceremony where the two-year performance of the portal was presented, the prime minister lauded the performance of its team and said that the platform was utilized by three million citizens for redressal of their complaints.
We will further improve its performance to resolve issues faced by the masses, he said adding that the portal has helped them in bringing improvement in administrative issues besides also facilitating in reviewing the performance of the government functionaries.
PM Imran Khan asked the masses to report any incident of a deputy commissioner or a cop asking for a bribe so that action could be launched against them. “This could help in making the bureaucracy accountable,” he said adding that anyone found guilty of wrongdoing would be expelled from the job rather than being transferred.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Imran Khan tasked the provincial governors to review the mechanism for disposal of complaints registered through the Pakistan Citizen Portal (PCP) pertaining to federal departments operating in their respective provinces.
The governors would carry out periodic performance evaluation of the PCP-dashboards of the Federal Government’s organizations and a senior-level focal person would be nominated for regular liaison with the Prime Minister Delivery Unit (PMDU).
The decision was taken in view of lacking collective performance review of the Federal Government organizations functioning in the provinces.
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The PMDU was also directed to create exclusive dashboards for the governors’ offices and carry out orientation of the nominated focal persons.
Citizen Portal; a trusted medium for the public?
The Citizen Portal has emerged as the most trusted medium for complaint resolution by providing the common man a forum as well as a voice to raise the issue.
The registration of around three million people at the portal manifested the people’s confidence in the system.
The people have lodged 2.7 million complaints with 94% resolution and a total of 617,000 complainants have posted satisfactory feedback.
In order to receive and process public complaints, 8,913 PCP-dashboards have been created for officers of all government organizations across the country.
Read More: PM Khan inaugurates Citizen Portal: Vows to empower masses
Hasaan Khawar, an international development and public policy professional and a former civil servant belonging to Pakistan Administrative Service, appreciated the prime minister for launching this portal. “People have a forum and they can raise their voice, Khawar said. “This is an excellent step. I appreciate the government,” he added while speaking to Samaa TV.
https://twitter.com/hasaankhawar/status/1334950925371314177?s=20
However, Khawar maintained that the premier needs to understand that several officers have stopped working because of the fear anti-corruption office and NAB. “You can expel an officer if he is taking a bribe but you cannot officer if he is not working because of the fear of the NAB,” he opined.
https://twitter.com/hasaankhawar/status/1334956228569673730?s=20
Senior officials told GVS that the approach prime minister “should remember what they had to face in Punjab when senior bureaucrats declined to work”. Notably, senior officers had refused to work in Punjab. The premier himself had to come and convince them that “they should work independently and without the fear of being controlled”.