THE performance of much propagated Pakistan Citizen Portal unfortunately is not up to the mark and losing public trust because the complaints being lodged by them are not properly being heard and addressed due to sheer negligence and lack of interest by the bureaucracy.
This has also irked Prime Minister Imran Khan. Taking notice of mishandling, non resolution and delayed response of the complaints registered on the Pakistan Citizen Portal App, the Prime Minister has directed all the ministries to form a dedicated committee to evaluate the performance of the officers responsible for inaction and submit their reports within thirty days. According to the letter issued to all ministries and divisions, a performance evaluation of a few officers’ dashboard was made which showed that the complaints were neither handled according to the instructions nor were they decided at an appropriate level. The Prime Minister had launched the Portal in October last year with the promise of connecting people to the government and the pledge that this platform will bring about a change in the country. However, it is lamentable that due to the lacklustre attitude of bureaucracy, the Portal so far has failed to deliver to the expectations of the people. The initiative was launched to improve governance but most of the officials are taking it for granted. It is reported that 0.5 million complaints have so far been addressed on the Portal but the feedback of the people speaks the contrary. Often the complaints are categorized as addressed even if no relief is granted to the complainant. The fact of the matter is that the focal persons are toothless to actually provide any relief to the complainant. They are heavily dependent on the heads of departments who are taking least interest to genuinely address the complaints. Strict action needs to be taken against the heads of departments who are taking the complaints very lightly and causing embarrassment to the government. The team of PM Portal should be further strengthened with officers of good repute and they should be empowered to take action on the feedback of the complainants. The complaint resolution mechanism can be made effective and efficient by giving due weightage to the feedback of complainants.
