LAHORE:Caretaker Minister for Local Government & Community Development Punjab Ibrahim Hasan Murad has directed the officers of his department to introduce a digital system to make the process of birth, death and marriage registration transparent and speedy as there were many complaints from the citizens in this regard.
He directed the officials concerned to provide this facility to the citizens at their doorstep. He said that due to the incomplete development projects in various cities and villages, the people were facing severe difficulties and due to delay, the cost of the projects also increased enormously, so the ongoing development schemes should be completed as soon as possible.
The provincial minister said that there was a need to make the system of allocation and payment of development contracts transparent as due to the commission mafia, a
large part of the allocated funds got exposed to corruption, which ultimately resulted in non-standard works.
Ibrahim Hasan Murad was taking a briefing from the DG Local Government Board on Tuesday. The minister also directed the officials to give comprehensive proposals within a week to make the process of death registration hastle-free. He warned that issuance of fake certificates by union councils should be strictly stopped.
The minister said that regular training courses should be organised for effective capacity building of local government officers and other staff. He also sought the details of the offices taken on rent.
Earlier in the briefing, it was stated that Punjab had a target of 100 percent birth registration by 2030, which was currently up to 82 percent. "Baldia Online is providing various facilities to the citizens at home.", it was apprised. In the briefing, it was informed that a total of 852 development schemes of the local government were being worked on in Punjab while 79 schemes had been completed so far in the current financial year.
Later, Secretary Local Government Board also briefed the minister on different aspects of the Board.
Media students: A 25-member delegation of media students visited the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) Qurban Lines here on Tuesday. The Director Public Relations (DPR) briefed the students and faculty regarding the media management centre, public awareness campaigns and the first police Web TV Channel established in PSCA. On this occasion, DPR briefed the delegation about the Women's Safety App and different features such as secured route mapping, location sharing, one-touch SOS call for immediate security provision and deployment, and other helpline numbers.
He added that the number of people installing Women's Safety App designed to protect women is growing rapidly and more than two lakh women have so far installed the Women Safety App.
He further said that the scope of Safe City is being extended by the integration of private cameras. The delegation appreciated the efforts made by the PSCA. Safe city infrastructure should spread across the country for crime prevention.
The female students of the delegation said that they would definitely download the Women Safety App. The delegation was also briefed about various sections of IC3 for a real-time functional demonstration of the integrated security platform.