KARACHI: The caretaker provincial government on Wednesday launched ‘e-Service Sindh App’ and other integrated digital components to provide online access to a wide range of services including e-registration of sale deed of land, domicile, heirship and no-objection certificates for sale of residential and commercial land.

Addressing the launching ceremony as the chief guest, caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar said that the provincial government initiated a single digital platform for all citizens of the province to minimise the human interaction, ensure transparency, departmental accountability, and the disposal of all cases within seven working days as a step for transformation from the manual mode to ‘e-governance’ in the form of e-Services Sindh and e-Pay Sindh.

Five transformative e-services, including e-Registration, e-Mutation, e-Pay Sindh, Industrial Estate Management System (IEMS), were launched to make it easier, faster, and more convenient for people to access government services.

The CM said that the Sindh initiative included a digital payment feature in the name of e-Pay Sindh. “This feature allows citizens to make payments for government services securely and conveniently through their mobile devices, Easy Paisa, Credit Card, Debit Card, ATM Machines and Banks,” he added.

Baqar says e-Service Sindh App built to ensure transparency, minimise human interaction

The launching ceremony of e-Services Sindh was held at a local hotel where the chief minister launched it saying that the ground-breaking initiative would revolutionise the way citizens interact with the Sindh government.

He said that the Board of Revenue introduced five transformative e-services that would make it easier, faster, and more convenient for people to access government services, adding that currently, two departments had launched it, but slowly all departments would adopt it one by one.

The CM said that the provincial cabinet had approved the inclusion of its legal framework into Rules of Business as e-Services Sindh and e-Pay Sindh by amendment to the Secretariat Instructions 2014 last Monday.

Secondly, he said, there would be e-registration for registered sale deeds, a service that would allow citizens to register their sale deeds through online applications, payments and appointments for biometric verification and registration before the Sub-Registrars.

He said that there was also an e-Mutation for changing in record of rights of land, a service that would allow citizens to easily change the record of rights for their land online when registration would be done through e-Registration.

Justice Baqar said that the cabinet had on last Monday directed the Board of Revenue to digitally rewrite record of rights within the next six months. “This digitally rewritten record of rights will be integrated with e-Registration and e-Mutation database,” he said adding that the City Survey Record of the entire province would also be digitised and integrated with this database within the next six months.

He said that e-Pay Sindh service would allow citizens to make all payments to the provincial government through an online digital channel.

“This will make it easier and more convenient for people to pay their taxes, fees, and other dues,” he added.

The chief minister said there was also an Industrial Estate Management System for SITE Limited and Sindh Small Industrial Estates — a service that would provide a centralised platform for managing industrial estates in Sindh.

Revenue and Industries Minister Younis Dhaga said that e-Sindh initiative promoted efficiency and effectiveness. “By streamlining processes and eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy, the e-Services Sindh initiatives reduce the time and effort required to access government services,” he said adding that it would not only save citizens’ valuable time, but would also allow government departments to operate more efficiently, leading to improved service delivery.

He said that the digital payments feature, e-Pay, would allow citizens to make payments for government services securely and conveniently through their mobile devices, Easy Paisa, Credit Card, Debit Card, ATM Machines and Banks.

Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated the e-Sindh system by punching the computer key.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2024