Prisons dept gets Management Info System

LAHORE:United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) jointly handed over formal control and implementation of the Prison Management Information System (PMIS) to the Punjab Prisons Department during a ceremony at a local hotel.

The representative of INL Ms Lauren A Meelang, Prisons Minister Zawar Hussain Warraich, Additional Chief Secretary Home Momin Ali Agha, IG Prisons Punjab Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig, IG Prisons Sindh Nusrat Hussain Mangan, IG Prisons Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Masood-ur-Rehman, IG Prisons Balochistan Malik Muhammad Yusaf and IG Prisons AJK/Additional Secretary Home Masood-ur-Rehman were also present in the ceremony.

Provincial Prisons Minister Zawar Hussain Warraich welcomed the step and stated that the programme would prove to be an important milestone in bringing about administrative reforms and improving functions of Prisons Department. This step will also link all Punjab prisons with one another. He said the data of all prisoners would be immediately obtained under the project and would significantly improve effectiveness and capacity of Prisons Department officials under the head of PMIS. Prisons Department will require assistance and support of these organizations in future for further improvement.

Various other speakers also expressed their views during the ceremony and said that PITB would introduce PIMS in all Punjab prisons and would play its effective role in implementing this system as well as providing assistance and stability as a technology partner.

Earlier, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between UNODC and INL was also signed. OPC: Additional Chief Secretary (Administrative Secretary of Overseas Pakistanis Commission) Shaukat Ali presided over a meeting to review the progress on complaints received, referred and resolved in District Overseas Pakistanis Committees of Bahawalpur Division via a video link here on Tuesday at Civil Secretariat. A review meeting was attended by Commissioner Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) Passand Khan Buledi, Commissioner Bahawalpur Division, Chairpersons DOPCs, Deputy Commissioners, District Police Officers of Bahawalpur Division and officers concerned. Commissioner OPC Passand Khan Buledi briefed the chair on the resolved, referred and pending complaints of Bahawalpur Division and overall performance and complaints’ redressal mechanism of the commission. Commissioner Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab Passand Khan Buledi also shared the ongoing proceedings and latest statistics showing progress of the complaints. Out of 472 complaints, total number of complaints resolved from three districts - Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahimyar Khan - is 378 which makes the resolved rate 80pc in the Bahawalpur Division. It is also pertinent to mention that as per OPC Portal 18,415 complaints have been received so far out of which 10,561 complaints have been resolved because of the hard work of the officers working in the commission. The resolved rate of the complaints has reached from 37pc in the beginning of this year to 57pc now. Recently established and functional Nadra facilitation desk is an example of the commitment and hard work of my team, OPC said. Additional Chief Secretary (Administrative Secretary of Overseas Pakistanis Commission) Shaukat Ali while chairing the review meeting said that the marvelous work done by the commission is commendable and expeditious disposal of the complaints of the overseas Pakistanis by the commission is also satisfactory.