Thursday, 28 March 2024, 08:45:35 pm

Govt committed to address public grievances through Citizen’s Portal: PMDU
September 15, 2020

Prime Minister's Performance Delivery Unit Deputy Secretary Adil Saeed Safi says the PTI-led government is committed to provide immediate relief to downtrodden and marginalized segments of society at their door steps without any discrimination. 

In an exclusive interview with News and Current Affairs Channel of Radio Pakistan this afternoon, he said provision of relief to common masses at their doorsteps and holding across-the-board accountability of all corrupt elements is part of PTI government's agenda to make Pakistan a welfare Islamic state. He said the credit goes to the current government for introducing a mechanism of Pakistan Citizen Portal regarding resolution of problems and genuine concerns of the general public.

Shedding light on the role and working of Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit, he said the Unit is pioneering a nation-wide complaints and grievance redressal mechanism with special emphasis on facilitation of overseas Pakistanis, women, special persons and foreigners.   The Deputy Secretary informed said that the primary objective of the unit is to provide citizens’ an opportunity to seamlessly communicate with all government entities and have their issues resolved with priority, in accordance with vision of the incumbent government.  Adil Saeed Safi further said this Unit takes it as a prime responsibility to ensure that all complaints and suggestions are handled fairly and efficiently through concerned organizations.  Adil Saeed Safi further informed that the PMDU bridges the gap between public and government departments, and provide services at citizen’s doorsteps considering their self-esteem and self-respect.

Responding to a query about working and role of Pakistan Citizen’s Portal, the deputy secretary said portal is a government-owned mobile application, which is being used as a tool to promote citizen-centric participatory governance.  Adil Saeed informed that the portal provides a nation-wide window to connect people with government organizations at all levels for raising their issues with authorities, complaints’ redressal and suggestions. He further said the government has recently launched the web service of Pakistan Citizen Portal, which is aimed at providing people more chance to register their complaints.  The Deputy Secretary further said more than 80 million people would be able to register their complaints with the launch of the web portal, adding that previously, the Pakistan Citizen Portal service was limited to 30.5 million people.  The general public will now have access to 8,600 institutions to register their grievances.

Talking about achievements of Pakistan Citizen Portal, Adil Saeed informed that 1, 15,000 users are being registered every month at this portal, which is a great achievement. He expressed the confidence that 2.9 million users have so far downloaded this portal, while over 2.5 million complaints have so far been received at this platform.  He said that portal has 1.4 million feedbacks from the users so far, out of which over five hundred thousand citizens have expressed their satisfaction over relief-providing mechanism and performance of the portal.  Adil Saeed expressed the confidence that the citizens, whose complaints have been resolved, were totally non-political, non-influential and unbiased. He said municipal services complaints are the highest at Pakistan Citizen Portal both at federal and provincial levels. The deputy secretary said complaints related to health, education, and power and gas sectors are also prominent among other complaints.

Talking about complaint re-addressal mechanism, the deputy secretary said that complaints, guidance seeking queries and suggestions from registered members of the Portal are handled in a clearly defined and effective manner.   Adil Saeed said IDs of the citizens are always fully verified and protected. He said if any user cannot lodge complaint by himself or herself due to lack of education or facility, he or she can nominate any other person as their representative for redressal of their complaints.

Adil Saeed Safi said people who install the App are benefitted in different ways, including free registration on the Portal via App, creation of a long-lasting account with governments’ authorities at all levels for lodging complaints, identifications of issues as a social responsibility, and direct interaction and connectivity with the concerned office.

He said all heads of organizations and government entities are primarily responsible and are expected to ensure efficiency and quality in complaints resolution processes through their dashboards. For the purpose, regular review meetings are being conducted within the organization and with respective attached departments so as to identify bottle necks in timely resolution as well as performance accountability of the officer concerned. Adil Saeed Safi expressed the confidence that Pakistan Citizen Portal continued its services during peak hours of Corona-virus.  He further said the portal was only available platform for general public who utilized this forum while sitting at their homes. 

Turning towards complaints against government’s ministries and official entities, Adil Saeed Safi informed that some negative elements used this platform to target a specific person on the basis of jealously, but Prime Minister Delivery Unit ensured fair usage of Pakistan Citizen Portal by stopping harassment of government officers.  He said the Federal Board of Revenue, Ministry of Federal Education, provincial chief secretaries and inspector generals took action against responsible officials over their failure to resolve genuine complaints of the public. He said the government officers cannot lodge their complaints over this portal about official matters, including promotion, posting, transfers and seniority of the officers. He, however, said that re-addressal of official matters is possible only through transparent law, and rules and regulations.  The Deputy Secretary expressed the confidence that all complaints of general public as well as government officials are resolved keeping in view spirit of merit, transparency, and law. 

To a question about “Khuli Ketchery”, the deputy secretary said twenty-five organizations of ten federal ministries have been directed to hold regular “Khuli Ketcheries”in remote rural areas having no internet facilitation by following specific corona-related SOPs.  He said the same instructions were passed to the organizations for holding “E-Khuli Ketcheries during Corona period.

Concluding the debate, Adil Saeed urged all the citizens to utilize the forum of Pakistan Citizen Portal in an effective manner without any mala fide intention and political influence.

Later, the deputy secretary inaugurated the module of Pakistan’s Citizen Portal at the Radio Pakistan’s website and interacted with the social media staff.