I RECENTLY visited the office of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) in Islamabad to find out the status of my membership even though I have been a life member from day one. The visit was an eye-opener as I ran into a system which was chaotic and needed to be fixed.

PEC has a so-called ‘computer system’ that has all the data stored, but no information can be recovered from the system. There was no way that by putting my name or father’s name or date of birth or any other identification data, my PEC registration number could be recovered. I had to check my papers and, luckily, found the number from decades ago. My main concern is who designed this computer software database for the PEC, which is a body of professional engineers.

The individuals in charge of the data and computer system did not seem to be well-trained. I had to move to the first floor of the building and return to the ground floor at least four times to get the process started.

Even then, some employees were not available in their respective offices, so the procedure remained unfinished. I would like to know why the registration process is so difficult and why does it require going physically to the PEC office.

I wonder who designed the software, what was the cost of the software, and who supervised the commissioning and testing of the software. Even though many recent graduates are highly skilled and could easily handle such assignments, the PEC employed individuals who could hardly type or use computers. Why?

At the time of filing for PEC member-ship, I had provided all the relevant documents. Why then one needs to provide the same information once again? I was told that this was the policy of the Council? Who is making such policies?

Nasir Bilal
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2024