PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is working on a draft law to ensure efficient public service delivery and eliminate corruption.

A statement issued here on Tuesday said that the KP Public Service Delivery and Good Governance Bill, 2019, had been under consideration to implement the provincial government’s good governance strategy.

It said that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan chaired a meeting regarding the proposed legislation and directed the officials concerned for holding discussions with the stakeholders regarding the bill. He also called for convening a joint meeting of all the departments concerned within a week.

On this occasion, the chief minister principally agreed with the establishment of 24-hour central hotline number through which citizens would be able to lodge complaints against any corrupt practices.

Mr Khan underlined the importance of eliminating corrupt practices and promoting transparency in public offices. He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had introduced a good governance strategy at the provincial level. He directed for wide publicity of the anti-corruption drive within the departments, saying that transparency and accountability were the central pillars of good governance.

The chief minister said that the Civil Administration Act was aimed at providing legal mechanism to achieve the objectives under the strategy. He said that close coordination between the district administration and government departments was mandatory to achieve the targets.

He was also briefed about the anti-corruption measures being taken in the departments, which included transfer-posting policy, establishment of placement committees within the departments, central hotline and the whistleblower mechanism.

He was informed that under the central hotline a call centre would be functional round the clock. On the complaints of citizens regarding corrupt practices, the call centre will alert the relevant departments. After due diligence the caller (whistleblower) may be given a reward, if corruption is proved.

Mr Khan also principally agreed with the introduction of a central transfer-posting portal, to be developed by the KP Information Technology Board. The portal would be used by the administrative department for issuance of transfer-posting orders.

He highlighted the importance of open kutcheris being held by the district administrations, saying that issues being faced by people at grassroots level were timely addressed at these local forums.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2019