ISLAMABAD: Out of 1.653 million complaints made on the Pakistan Citizen Portal by people from all walks of life during the past 14 months, 1.509m (91.32 per cent) have been resolved.

According to statistics released officially by the Prime Minister Office on Saturday, the number of registered members on the portal launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan in October 2018 has now reached 1,397,537, out of which 48,349 are students, followed by 34,995 businessmen and 33,277 engineers.

Other registered members are civil servants (20,025), teachers (16,437), corporate sector employees (14,579), armed forces (9,542), doctors (8,816), social workers (6,841), lawyers (4,616), senior citizens and retired persons (2,990), political workers (2,615), journalists (2,309) and 1,695 persons belonging to non-government organisations (NGOs).

“With a complaint resolution rate of 91.32 per cent, Pakistan Citizen Portal has become the most effective tool in redressing people’s complaints thus becoming voice of the people of Pakistan,” says an official handout issued by the PM Office.

PM Office says 91pc of complaints redressed

According to the latest data, a total of 1,653,045 complaints have been received so far from over 1.3 million registered members. Out of these 1,552,529 (93.92pc) have originated from inland, 94,880 from overseas Pakistanis and 5,636 from foreigners.

Province-wise break-up shows that 726,133 (43.93pc) complaints originated from Punjab with 686,283 successfully resolved. Out of 564,207 complaints related to the federal government, 527,779 have been resolved. Similarly, 189,425 out of 201,177 complaints from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 12,931 out of 15,316 from Balochistan have been resolved while 86,404 (62.6pc) complaints out of 137,946 from Sindh have been resolved till Jan 10.

The data shows that so far, 11,151 complaints have been received from over 2,300 journalists who are registered members of the portal. Out of 11,151 complaints, 10,203 have been resolved with 91pc resolution rate.

Out of these 11,151 complaints by journalists, 5,363 complaints were related to Punjab, 4,071 to the federal government, 1,002 to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 543 to Sindh, 83 to Balochistan, 82 to Islamabad Capital Territory, five to Gilgit-Baltistan and two complaints were related to Azad Jammu and Kashmir government.

Category-wise complaints status data states that out of total 1,653,045 complaints, 340,339 were related to municipal services, followed by energy and power (299,701), education (179,004), human rights (132,161), law and order (101,153), health (97,764), communication (60,858), transport (60,605), development projects (60,496), land and revenue (60,207), overseas Pakistanis (52,427), media cyber crimes (47,293), excise and taxation (28,450), environment and forests (18,400), investment (18,063), National Database and Registration Authority (16,639), licences and certificates (14,435), agriculture (13,867), immigration and passports (11,784), youth affairs (11,168), Federal Board of Revenue (4,624), disaster emergency (3,194), poverty alleviation and social safety (573), banking (414) and Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (277).

Top ten officers with successful resolution of the complaints remained MD Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited with 93,836 resolutions, CEO Mepco (38,434), Complaint Manager Iesco (27,616), CEO Pesco (22,406), CEO Fesco (21,331), Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (14,250), CEO Gepco (13,311), CEO Hesco (12,976), State Bank of Pakistan’s governor (11,804) and CEO Sepco with 10,255 resolved complaints.

The departments with highest number of super-escalated complaints have been the District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Karachi East with 4,942 complaints, the superintendent engineer Karachi East Water and Sewerage Board (3,775), DMC Korangi (3,018), Ombudsman and provincial ombudsman (2,849), Kamyab Jawan Department National Bank of Pakistan (2,279), DMC Karachi West (2,007), the superintendent engineer South, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (1,665), Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (1,519), Regional Transport Authority Karachi (718) and Municipal Committee Qasimabad District Hyderabad with 654 complaints.

The super-escalated complaints are those complaints which remain unresolved beyond specified time limit.

The Pakistan Citizen Portal was established on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan to create a robust link between the government and the people of Pakistan. The portal has enabled citizens to highlight their issues and seek intervention at the highest level for their resolution.

While encouraging people to utilise this facility, the prime minister has also made it very clear that no leniency will be shown to any government official who neglects his duty in addressing complaints reported on Citizen Portal.

In November last year, the prime minister while taking notice of the inaction of officers regarding citizens’ complaints had reportedly directed all ministries and departments to form five-member committees to “conduct performance evaluation and submit their reports within 30 days”.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2020