Civil, police officers warned against inefficiency

LAHORE :Punjab Chief Secretary Major (r) Azam Suleman Khan on Friday said that improvement in governance, public service delivery and promotion of transparency in the province is top priority. He said that officers would be given free hand but they would be held accountable.

Addressing a meeting of senior civil and police officers at Civil Secretariat, the chief secretary said that officers’ performance would be reviewed on a monthly basis and those who failed to deliver would be sent packing. He mentioned that merit and transparency would have to be promoted to improve performance of the departments concerned.

He asked the officers to perform their duties diligently and honestly so that desired targets could be achieved, adding that corruption and nepotism would not be tolerated in any case.

He maintained that the government wanted to address people’s problems. He directed the officers to keep doors of their offices open for the public to resolve their problems. Implementation of open door policy and observance of office hours must be ensured, he added.

He said that civil and police officers should enhance coordination and hold joint open courts in districts. He issued instructions to administrative secretaries to conduct field visit of districts and submit a report on regular basis. He announced that he would himself pay surprise visits to districts along with Inspector General of Police.

He warned that profiteers, hoarders, and adulterators would be dealt with sternly. He directed the divisional commissioners to ensure availability of daily use commodities at the prices fixed by the government, saying that deputy commissioners and district police officers must visit fruit and vegetable markets to supervise auction process.

He ordered that campaign against adulteration and spurious drugs be expedited and stern action be taken against land grabbers. He asked the commissioner and deputy commissioners to pay special attention to tree plantation and measures to combat smog.

The chief secretary also issued instructions regarding use of IT to improve governance, timely resolution of complaints received through Pakistan Citizen Portal and holding regular meetings of divisional and district intelligence committees. The meeting was attended by chairman planning and development, additional chief secretary, additional chief secretary (Home), administrative secretaries of all departments, IG Police, Additional IG CTD, Additional IG Special Branch, CCPO Lahore whereas divisional commissioners and regional police officers joined the session through a video conferencing.

Seminar: A seminar titled “Water Disputes in the 21st Century - The Case of Pakistan in the Global Wars on Water” was held at University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) here on Friday.

According to a press release, the chief guest of the seminar was Justice Jawad Hassan while barrister Nudra Abdul-Majeed, advocates Rafay Alam, Dr Qamer Shahid and others led an intellectual discussion on the water crisis in Pakistan and proposed practical solutions to it. The Indus Waters Treaty was also discussed. The UVAS in collaboration with Pakistan Centre for Law and Society had organised the event.