IT dept to help ensure paperless proceedings in Sindh Assembly

The Sindh Assembly was informed on Friday that the provincial government’s information technology (IT) department would fully support the drive to ensure that the proceedings of the House were conducted in a paperless environment.

This assurance to this effect was given by Special Assistant to Sindh Chief Minister Tanzila Umi Habiba while responding to queries of the concerned lawmakers in the question hour of the session.

She told the House that the Sindh IT department had undertaken a number of projects for automation and digitisation in different government departments and agencies as per their needs. She said an IT system once developed was handed over to the relevant institution for which it had been prepared and then that department would start executing the system on its own.

To a question, the CM’s special assistant said that up to 60 per cent of staffers of the Sindh IT department were young people. She said a project had been undertaken to introduce Wi-Fi internet connectivity in the public sector universities in the province as several varsities did not have the facility.

According to Tanzila, the IT department had also initiated projects to ensure the availability of the latest computer learning facilities at the cadet colleges in the province. She informed the lawmakers that the IT department also conducted training of the staffers of different departments and agencies of the government to enable them to use office automation systems.

She said that a system of digital database had been developed for the police stations in the province to keep a record of any person who had been sent to prison after committing any crime in order to track his future activities.

She added that the jails in the province had been connected to this system. Another system had been developed to digitise the procedure of applying for a driving licence, she said. Later, an opposition lawmaker of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamal Siddiqui, pointed out that the lawmakers present in the House did not fulfil the minimum quorum requirement to conduct the proceedings of the session.

Upon counting, it was confirmed that merely 30 to 31 MPAs were present, after which the session was first adjourned for five minutes to complete the quorum. As upon reassembling, the quorum was still not complete, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani adjourned the session till Monday, December 19, at 2 pm.