Govt takes major step for destitute

Ag Agencies

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the incumbent government's manifesto is to practically serve masses.

In a statement, the prime minister said government organisations should be bound to serve people as governance system is linked with better coordination between public and government organisations.

In this context, Pakistan Citizen's Portal (PCP), the largest network of registering complaints, has become fully functional in the country on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to the Prime Minister Office, responsibilities have been assigned to 8,864 dashboards of officers on Citizen Portal in all the provinces. A letter has also been dispatched to over 8,864 government offices.

Government officers have been directed to register complaints of the weak segments through their dashboards. The officers have also been given special instructions to facilitate senior citizens, widows, women and special persons.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Delivery Unit has also sent code of conduct to government organisations. The citizens will not have to go to the concerned department now, rather staff of any nearby government office will be obligated to register complaint of a citizen.

The government organisations will be supposed to send complaint of the citizen to the department concerned. This decision has been taken in view of non-availability of internet service in different areas.

The facility of complaint lodging manually would be provided to those who have neither smartphones nor internet access; unable to read/write; physically challenged; women/widows and elderly/ senior citizens; whose destination of service delivery or issue dealing office far away etc.

It is pertinent to mention here that since October 2018, Pakistan Citizen’s Portal has been successfully providing remote connectivity with government authorities to a large number of people in the country. It has proved a vibrant tool for raising issues pertaining to governance and service delivery.

Meanwhile, presiding over meeting of the National Coordination Committee for Small and Medium Enterprises, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that providing job opportunities to the youth of the country, increasing the country’s exports and generating wealth in the country was the top priority of the government.

The development of small and medium enterprises, he pointed out, played a key role in achieving the targets set for these three priorities. He said that in the last 10 years, SMEs had been completely ignored, which had a negative impact on the national economy. The prime minister said that in view of the government’s priorities, all federal departments and provincial governments should pay special attention to the development of the SME sector. He said that the government was committed to provide all possible facilities to SMEs including simplification of rules and regulations, provision of credit, facilitation of tax system and facilitation of business. The prime minister directed the minister of industry to finalise the roadmap based on timelines for the implementation of the proposed SME policy in consultation with the provinces as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan met a delegation of leading industrialists and representatives of Karachi Business Associations. The delegation included Mian Anjum Nisar, Sharq Vohra, Saleemuz Zaman, Faisal Moeez, Muhammad Ali, Abdul Hadi, Naveed Shakur, Engineer Nisar, Ajmal Afzal and Zubair Bawija.

Federal Minister Asad Umar, Trade Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood, Finance Advisor Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser Dr Ishrat Hussain, chairman Board of Investment, chairman FBR and other senior officers attended the meeting.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail was also present in the meeting. The delegation members appreciated the Karachi package, the government’s policy and initiatives regarding the industrial process in the country, especially the expansion of small and medium enterprises.

The delegation also apprised the Prime Minister of the difficulties faced by the business community. The government team briefed the meeting on steps being taken to facilitate business and facilitate the business process.

Addressing the meeting, Imran Khan said that facilitating business, eliminating unnecessary regulations, improving the tax system and providing all possible facilities to the business community involved in the industrial process is the top priority of the government. He said that a series of meetings with the business community would be held to further the process of reform and facilitation keeping in view their suggestions.

Imran Ismail also separately met Prime Minister Imran Khan. The prime minister directed the Sindh governor to take up matters related to Bundle Island with the government of Sindh.

The prime minister said the Bundle Island project would provide ample opportunities for investment and employment.

The governor gave briefing to the prime minister regarding the progress on Karachi Transformation Plan.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan said construction sector was of key importance in accelerating the economic process and reviving the COVID-affected economy.

The prime minister directed the chairman New Pakistan Housing Authority, provincial chief secretaries and all concerned to pay full attention to the development of the construction sector so that these efforts would not be delayed at any stage.

He said this while chairing the weekly meeting of the National Coordination Committee for Housing, Construction and Development. A detailed briefing by the Ministry of Housing was given to the prime minister on the commencement of work on stalled projects of federal government agencies, housing units to be constructed as a result of ongoing and future projects and the value of these projects.

The prime minister was informed that about ten projects of the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority had been stalled for the last several years and work had been resumed on them resulting in construction of 38,667 units.