Daily Times

Citizen’s Portal is an interface between the public and the government. It is a welcome improvement on grievance handling and speaks of government’s commitment mitigating citizens’ problems. However, there is a long way to go as many government departments are not ready to be as responsive to the citizen as the prime minister might expect them to be. The prime minister has recently been reported as having taken notice of the poor performance of the Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit.

More than 33,000 complaints were reopened after the PM noticed negligence in dealing with public complaints.

The PM’s Office noted that the quality of resolution of complaints showed that the matter had been left in the hands of junior staff without supervision by senior management.

The Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit was established in 2015 for monitoring of key development projects including the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the LNG terminal, the power sector and infrastructure development.

In 2018, the government took a step further by adding an online application unit, also called the Citizen’s Portal.

The purpose was to facilitate the general public and overseas Pakistanis by promptly redressing grievances without requiring the complainants to physically visit the offices and to cut down on paperwork. The system has a built in complaint tracking system.

The government and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf have since been promoting this application as a powerful tool to improve accountability and redress citizen’s complaints.

Where complaints can be ignored, authorities only take notice of an issue once it surfaces on the media. It may be recalled that in most cases of gender violence, the authorities took notice after the media had highlighted the issue

This has encouraged thousands of Pakistanis to lodge complaints, mostly related to utility companies, district authorities, public hospitals and schools.

Newly introduced to online complaints, the authorities reacted swiftly to complaints against private sector e.g. sale of substandard milk. However, thousands of complaints directly related to service delivery by government offices such as the dismal state of roads, hospitals and schools, poor supply of electricity, lack of water and sanitation services did not result in such prompt action.

The Portal enabled the public to lodge their complaints in an effective manner. Hotlines introduced in the past had failed, mainly on account of a lack of accountability.

A few months ago, I called one such hotline established by the Elementary and Secondary Education Department in Peshawar. The hotline was established to provide immediate support and relief to victims of corporal punishment and action on complaints of fraud in construction projects in KP schools. Those attending the calls said they did not maintain record of phone calls because they were already overworked with complaints from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and the Citizen’s Portal where complaints were tracked.

Where complaints can be ignored, authorities only take notice of an issue once it surfaces on the media. It may be recalled that in most cases of gender violence, the authorities took notice after the media had highlighted the issue.

A few weeks ago, I lodged a few complaints against utility companies (electricity and gas) and the Private Schools Authority to understand the function and efficacy of the Citizen’s Portal.

My first complaint was related to utility companies (electricity and gas). It received appropriate attention and relief was granted to my satisfaction. In my street in Islamabad, several electrical connections had been provided from points located a long distance away. Following my complaint, the IESCO installed a D-box right in the middle of the street so that every house could get a connection within feet of the box. The relief took only about a week after the complaint was lodged. This was highly impressive. The portal showed immediate action taken by the respective authorities although it involved three offices of the IESCO.

My second complaint was regarding the fee charged by a private school in Islamabad and the violation of the Supreme Court orders by the school. The complaint was assigned to the Private School Regulatory Authority. The Authority proved to be quite proactive but was highly under-resourced because of weak legal support from the government. According to PEIRA officials, private schools accused of violating SC orders had lodged writ petitions in Islamabad High Court against the PEIRA after it sent them letters for grant of relief to the complaining parents.

Given the lack of legislative support, the Authority is facing challenges in imposing its writ. Following my complaint, it sent several letters to the school and marked the case as “partial relief granted.”

The Citizen’s Portal does not extend support or check in cases where an authority or a private sector manager ignores the PMDU directions.

Then there are the Federal and Provincial Ombudsmen or Mohtassibs. They have been remarkably supportive of the public when complaints are lodged against government offices. The Ombudsman offices take a little longer, possibly due to backlog and legal instruments involved.

However, they have been providing justice to the public. While the government is trying to improve the Citizen’s Portal, it should also continue to provide support to the Ombudsman offices. It could even extend the Portal’s interface to these offices.

The writer is a public policy commentator