President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday called for making fast decisions, being responsive to people’s needs, and providing speedy relief to the citizens in their complaints against the maladministration of government officials and agencies. He also urged the government officials to be fair and just in their dealings, and adopt an open-door policy for the facilitation of people and putting the country on the path of fast-paced socio-economic development.
The president was addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Federal Insurance Ombudsman’s (FIO) office in Sukkur. President Alvi stressed the need for instituting alternate dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms to reduce the case burden on courts. Such a model had been quite successful in other countries and was also “in line with our culture”, he added.
He said training in ADR mechanisms should be provided to government officials for the early resolution of public issues. The president also emphahsized the need for introducing crop insurance schemes to provide coverage to farmers against natural calamities. He said insurance coverage in Pakistan was quite low as compared to other regional countries, adding that more insurance products needed to be introduced in Pakistan. He stated that there was a lack of trust in insurance products in Pakistan, and the Federal Insurance Ombudsman was playing its role in ameliorating the situation.
He said insurance companies had initiated pilot projects on crop insurance in Pakistan with the help of local and international funding. He added that the government would have to provide initial support and conducive environment in that regard. President Alvi said the Federal Insurance Ombudsman and the Banking Ombudsman were providing relief to people in cases involving insurance issues and bank frauds.
He said most people were unaware of the services and the role of the five federal ombudsmen that were providing speedy justice within 60 days to people against the maladministration of government agencies, banks, insurance companies, tax authorities, and in cases of sexual harassment at workplaces and provision of property rights to women. He said people needed to be informed about the services of the federal ombudsmen that had already provided quick relief in thousands of cases.
