LAHORE: The Punjab government claims to have integrated some 252 essential government services across 18 departments into the e-Biz online portal.

In a meeting chaired by the chief secretary on Wednesday, officials confirmed that the portal had already processed 44,519 applications, with 40,854 approvals successfully completed through the new automated system.

The government aims to further expand this digital footprint by increasing the number of available services to 300 by April 15.

Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman directed the officials to phase out manual processing entirely, ordering that all remaining government services be digitised to spare citizens from visiting offices in person.

He noted that modern technology remained the primary guarantee for better governance and that replacing traditional systems was essential to ensure absolute transparency in provincial affairs.

The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) chairman briefed the meeting on new measures, confirming that all No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) and permits would now feature QR codes for instant digital verification. Additionally, the “Maryam Ki Dastak” programme has been officially linked with the e-Biz portal to centralise citizen facilitation.

The meeting was attended by the ACS and senior officials, while divisional and deputy commissioners participated via video link.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026