Govt. achieves historic milestone by launching e-Stamp paper: Dr Umar Saif

Lahore: Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Dr. Umar Saif has said that the Punjab Government had achieved another historic milestone of e-governance by launching electronic stamp paper (e-Stamp paper) of over Rs. 1000/- value from Gujranwala today. He was addressing a meeting held at the Arfa Software Technology Park on Thursday. He paid special tribute to the Commissioner Gujranwala Division Capt. ® Muhammad Asif and DCO Aamir Jan for their keen interest in making e-Stamping a success. He also lauded every individual who supported this noble cause including officials of PITB, Board of Revenue Punjab (BoR), Finance Department Punjab, Bank of Punjab (BoP) and State Bank of Pakistan. He revealed that the very first day, citizens of Gujranwala district got e-stamp papers of Rs. 2.22 million through BoP under news system.

Dr. Saif told that it was a pilot project initiated from Gujranwala and after its success it would be replicated in the whole province with a shortest possible time. He said “Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was much concerned about the fake printing of large valued stamp papers and the fraud found thereafter particularly in case of selling or buying the land properties. He wished to develop ICT system to overcome these shortcomings and PITB with the help of BoR turned this dream into a reality. The electronic system is fool proof, transparent and prompt in working.

A citizen desiring a stamp paper may fill in an online application form (32-A Challan), print it and go to the nearby BoP branch from where he will find a printed Non- Judicial stamp paper.” He further told that earlier such stamp paper was issued by the Treasury office through a long arduous procedure jeopardized with the bribes to the concerned staff. Usually it consumed 2-3 days but now only 30 minutes are required to purchase a fault free stamp paper. The citizens receiving new e-stamp papers thanked Punjab Government to shift the manual procedure to the online one that would lead to the ultimate goal of e-governance in Punjab.