ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday termed the 'Citizen Portal' a big step towards the journey to empower the people, and stated that the people were facing problems due to corruption at the district level, especially, in Punjab and Sindh.
Addressing on the occasion of the two years' performance of the portal, the prime minister said three million people had used the citizen portal to register their complaints and gave breakdown of government departments' response to their complaints as well as in which department complaints were more compared to other departments.
The prime minister said in western countries, citizen were empowered and expect from the government to deliver services because they pay taxes as unlike a monarchy; in democracies, the government directly elected by the vote of the people is responsible to serve the people.
In Pakistan, the prime minister said there was also a change after the elections. He said this is a big step towards the journey to empower the people. It is the government's responsibility to listen to the voices of the people and service as it is the duty of the government and not a favor to them, he added.
The prime minister said service delivery in terms of sewerage to the people was poor by the municipal system, primarily because it is not properly functioning.
The government is introducing a new local government system that would revolutionise (transform) the system after the election.
The prime minister said that new local government system would solve sewerage, waste management, and other problems, and villagers would decide about their problems through their elected people based at the village level.
He said that big cities would have their own system and they would have their own elections and the governments in the new local government system, similar to the provincial governments.
He said overseas Pakistanis, who are the biggest asset of the country, have been facing problems some time from the police and the land mafia, and added that he was happy that overseas Pakistanis have used this citizen portal. Another area where the people are facing problems is due to corruption at the district level especially in Punjab and Sindh, and asked the people to lodge complaint if district commissioner, police officials, and other officers do not do their job, so that the government could hold them to account.
I would urge the people to make more use of the citizen portal, he said, and warned that civil service reform law is being introduced, and those officials found involved in bribe or victimisation of the people would face expulsion from service.
Later, the prime minister also launched Radio School and Education Portal on Friday, stating that it would help impart education to the far-flung areas where infrastructure is yet to be developed.
Addressing the launch ceremony, the prime minister stressed the online training of teachers, particularly in remote areas, to improve quality of education.
He said distance learning would also help students of less developed areas to get quality education even after the pandemic. This is a good opportunity to reach to the areas, where infrastructure is yet to be developed.
Uniform curriculum is the biggest success as there would be lot of problem in implementing it, and secondly to bring the seminary students in mainstream, he said, and added that there is an urgent need of national education policy and skilled education as this is the government priority area, and Islamabad should be made a model.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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