Daily Times

A legislative body of Senate, on Tuesday, expressed serious reservation against widespread reluctance in government departments to adopt e-office (automation), suggested by the IT ministry.

They regretted that the officials seemed stuck on the decades-old method of filing and did not want to update themselves like most other countries.

In this regard, the ministry of information technology and telecommunication had initiated a flagship project, which aimed to ensure e-offices in the government departments. So far, 27 out of 45 ministries have reached level two of the e-office setup while 15 are in process.

The project would also feature automation of records in not just the executive but both houses of the parliament as well.

The panel unanimously agreed to recommend all Senate Standing Committees to take the compliance status of their respective ministries on e-offices. There were different levels of automation and most of the ministries stood at level two out of the total five.

Senate Standing committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication Chairperson, Senator Rubina Khalid, directed to ensure the use of automation in all committees and their related departments.

The committee was also informed that a total of 23 schemes had been proposed under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2019-20 by the ministry, out of which eight were ongoing schemes while 15 were new.

The ministry had demanded Rs 16475 million for all schemes; Rs9814 million for new schemes and Rs 6,661 million for ongoing schemes.

The meeting was attended among others by Senators Rukhsana Zuberi; Dr Ashok Kumar; Abdul Rehman Malik; Fida Muhammad; Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh; Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Sana Jamali; Kalsoom Parveen; Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui; Secretary Information Technology and Telecommunication; Universal Services Fund (USF) CEO; Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Member Enforcement and officials from the ministry.

The committee members were also told that on the advice of the committee, the matter of releasing payment to pensioners of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) was taken up by the Board, which has approved the payment.

Arrears were said to be paid by June and the deficit would be re-appropriated from other heads of the budget.

The committee took a strong notice of the missing proper telecommunication services by companies in Malakand Division. It asked PTA and USF to ensure franchises were allowed to operate only when the services were provided while directing them to take strong action against companies not providing the services.

Senator Fida Mohammad complained that a large number of tourists passed Malakand Division every day, but Ufone services were not being properly provided there.

Though the sims of Ufone were being sold in Malakand Division, their services were very poor and even not available in most of the area, he maintained.

The senator requested the committee to ensure the proper coverage of Ufone services in Malakand Division through PTA and USF.

The committee demanded the PTA to ensure the national roaming in Malakand Division by sharing the towers of other companies.