A massive campaign to eradicate corruption would be launched soon : Dr Umar Saif

Lahore : Government of Punjab is soon launching a campaign on a massive scale to eradicate corruption by including more departments in the Citizen Feedback Monitoring Program and establishing real time data in the existing call center of Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) by linking it with social media i.e. Twitter, Facebook etc; for prompt action and smooth  provision of services.

This was stated by Dr. Umar Saif, Chairman PITB and Vice Chancellor ITU, while talking to a group of media persons here today.

Dr. Saif said that PITB’s Citizen Feedback Monitoring Program receives 12 to 15 thousand citizen entries on a daily basis and has so far approached 11.73 million citizens to evaluate the service performance of 22 different services including Police 15, Rescue 1122, Domicile, Hospitals, Driving License, LDA, Property Registration, Wheat Procurement etc and as a result, after thorough investigation, actions were taken against 15,000 officials on the basis of negative feedback reported by citizens. Government of Punjab had also collected citizen feedback after the launch of every major initiative including assistance extended to flood victims, IDPs dislocated during Zarb e Azb conducted under National Action Plan, he added.

While replying to a question Dr. Umar Saif informed that most of the departments have been digitalized and when citizens approach for the respective service their cell phone number gets registered in PITB’s automated data system while after the completion of the required service, the person is contacted to know the delays and malpractices, which are directed to the relevant stakeholders including the Implementation and Coordination (I&C) wing for rectification through respective DCOs if required.

He further informed that the Citizen Feedback Monitoring Program was initiated to observe zero tolerance policy of the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif, against corruption during the process of providing timely services to the citizens.

Giving an overview of the citizen feedback data, Dr. Saif said that good feedback was being received as regard to hospitals and Rescue 1122 service while Rescue 1122 feedback was relatively positive amongst all. Police 15 receives 85% bogus calls but with the establishment of Safe City Authority, the location and particulars of the complainant can also be traced. He urged the citizens to hashtag PITB while posting their complaints on social media.