LAHORE, Aug 9: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said on Monday that the Management and Professional Training Department (MPDD) should act as a think tank of the Punjab government, for which all possible sources would be allocated.

Speaking at a seminar on 'change through training', he emphasized the need for bringing improvement in the working conditions and attitudes of officers and officials to enhance the performance of departments.

The seminar was organized by the MPDD in collaboration with the National Productivity Organization (NPO), Islamabad, and the Research and Development Centre of the University of Central Punjab.

Better professional expertise, he said, was essential for implementing government's welfare-oriented projects. He said the departments, working on adhocism, were creating hurdles in the process of development.

Minister for Management and Professional Development Sardar Hasan Akhtar Mokal proposed that all training organizations of various departments should be under the administrative control of the MPDD.

"Organizations like the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) are unnecessary in the presence of the MPDD," he said. The minister proposed affiliation of the MPDD with the federal government so that foreign study tours and training of its faculty could be arranged.

The department trained 3,762 officers in 122 courses up to June 24. It would design and conduct courses which had been made mandatory for the promotion of provincial government employees.

The courses included six-week revenue administration training for the promotion of Naib Tehsildars and Tehsildars, an eight-week training for officers of former provincial secretariat service (ex-PSS), a 10-week training for officers of former provincial civil service (ex-PCS).

The department would also train the officers of the newly established provincial management service (PMS), the minister said. NPO chief Saquib Mohiyuddin said his organization had so far conducted 106 training courses in 24 cities of the country in Urdu and some regional languages.

Industry, agriculture, academia and community development sectors had been the focus of these courses. Twenty eight courses had been designed for labourers and workers to convert them to skilled manpower and technologists, he said.

MPDD secretary Dr Liaquat Khan Niazi said his department designed and conducted training programmes for government departments, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies besides private sector organizations.

Management consultant Syed Husain Haider presented an introduction to the seminar. Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated the Punjab Training Complex. Finance secretary Salman Siddique, British Council's Lahore director Dr Iftikhar Elahi, Quality Management and Knowledge Management CEO Kamran Mosa were among the speakers at the two technical sessions of the day-long seminar.