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Thursday March 28, 2024

‘PITB sees precedent for other provinces’

By our correspondents
March 16, 2016

LAHORE

A delegation of journalists from Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) visited Punjab IT Board (PITB) on Tuesday where it was briefed on major initiatives taken by the PITB. 

Welcoming the delegation, PITB Chairman Dr Umar Saif said under vibrant leadership of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the Punjab was setting precedents in good governance for other provinces as KP and Balochistan were adopting e-Vaccs programme after its success in Punjab. He said not only provinces of Pakistan rather European countries, Romania and Albania, are replicating Punjab’s Citizen Feedback System devised by the PITB. Dr Saif said that equipped with better resources and work force, Punjab was developing steadily and becoming able to assist other parts of the country. He said: “PITB has many success stories pertaining to our work for revolutionising health, education, police, revenue, rescue and other sectors of Punjab that have received applause from the President World Bank, the head of Department for International Development (DFID) UK, the US Ambassador and many more. The PITB is working on more than 236 projects aiming at e-governance, transparency and efficiency enhancement”.

Dr Saif said that PITB had rendered remarkable services to eradicate ‘Thana and Patwari’ culture from Punjab with computerisation of police stations and land record of 23,000 villages across the province. “We are assisting even federal government as the Hajj Management Information System of PITB facilitated the pilgrims through online registration, balloting and helplines set in Pakistan as well as in Saudi Arabia last year. Similarly, PITB is collaborating with the Benazir Income Support Program for ensuring transparent and prompt delivery of monthly stipend to the poor of Pakistan. PITB has set up state of the art one window operation in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Sargodha in the name of ‘e-Khidmat Markaz’ where almost 17 public services, issuance of domicile, marriage, death and character certificate, driving licence, NIC and route permit etc are being delivered without hurdles and bribes. Only 5,000 out of 50,000 applications are pending on all the three e-Khidmat centres,” he said. 

On a question put by a journalist, Dr Saif said PITB was also working effectively to curb crime and terrorism in Punjab by rolling out 1000 biometric machines through the Punjab police, rangers, Anti-Terrorism Force and special branch.

The journalists speaking on the occasion appreciated the PITB’s initiatives and wished they all be replicated in AJK. They were unanimous on the need of harmony and collaboration among all parts of Pakistan in order to change the lives of the common people with the help of latest technology.

Workshop: A workshop titled 'Expanding Regional Linkages in South Asia’ was organised to identify issues, policy differences and best practices across different countries of the region in important sectors, such as water, energy, urbanisation, climate change, health and agriculture. 

The event provided an opportunity to leading think-tanks and decision-makers to identify issues, policy differences and best practices across different countries of the region in important sectors, such as water, energy, urbanisation, climate change, health and agriculture.

The workshop aimed to examine and discuss the economic, social and political impediments currently rooted in South Asia, that stand in the way for adequately responding to global change, and defining an approach, the governments could develop, to carve out a role in the region.

A number of specialised papers were also presented in the seminar, with major focus on four broad themes, ‘A rapidly changing world’, ‘Globalisation and its impact on South Asia’, ‘South Asia's Frozen Conflicts’ and ‘Institutions for resolving conflicts’ along with six sub-themes.