ISLAMABAD: After failing to control malpractices in one of its key departments, the civic body of Islamabad has decided to use technology to counter corruption in the one-window operation (OWO) directorate.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) took the decision to upgrade the OWO directorate after receiving public complaints.

“Usually, most of the cases related to the transfer of plots come to the one-window facility. But some of the staff posted there apply the usual trick to delay the movement of the files,” said a senior official. “This usually forces the citizens to pay something to the staff posted there.”

The CDA is dealing with around 100,000 files in a month in property-related cases, mainly for the transfer of plots including domestic, industrial, commercial and even agro-farms. All the files have to be dealt with at the OWO directorate, but the workload has been turned into a point to make personal gains by the officials.

CDA takes the decision after rising public complaints

Meanwhile, a senior official of the CDA said even heavy-handed techniques applied by the previous management did not help in eradicating malpractices from the OWO.

“Getting a file moved from the naib qasid to the assistant director and directors becomes complicated in some cases and mostly lower staff makes things problematic for the citizens,” said the senior CDA official. “But nobody can do anything at this level. Therefore, tracking files electronically is the only possible solution,” he added.

Under the upgradation plan, the mobile numbers of all the citizens coming to the OWO directorate for transfer of properties would be noted down. These mobile phone numbers would also be forwarded to the chairman CDA, board members and the director OWO for a random checking regarding transfer of the property cases to avoid any hindrance and ensure transparency.

The OWO was established in 2003 with the objective to streamline public interaction with the CDA office and reduce chances of fraud and corruption in the authority.

“The basic concept was to save time of the citizens and increase the monitoring and supervision of officials. This concept has to be revived,” said Amer Ali, the member administration and estate. “But the main problem is that people do not come forward with the complaints possibly fearing a backlash from the officials they have to face again.”

The CDA management has decided to conduct random calls to applicants to obtain their feedback.

“The information technology (IT) directorate has been directed to design software so that the progress on the applicant requests, including the property transfer and other cases, could be conveyed to them via SMS to solve their issues and update them,” the member administration added.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2014