LAHORE: The Punjab Government has launched “Punjab Model of Proactive Governance” to fight corruption, improve service-delivery mechanism and to facilitate the citizens’ engagement by proactively seeking feedback of people who received any day-to-day government service.

This Public Feedback Model is a special initiative of the Chief Minister Punjab Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif to eliminate corruption at the grassroots and to provide prompt relief to the hoi polloi. This was stated by a spokesman of the Punjab Model of Proactive Governance, in a statement, issued here on Sunday.

While giving a detail of the Project, the spokesman said that the Project, first piloted in six select districts, has now been fully working in Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Jhang, Khanewal, Mandi Bahauddin, Nankana Sahib, Narowal, Rahim Yar Khan, Sahiwal, Sheikhupura and Sialkot. In the next phase, this Model will be implemented in all the 36 districts in Punjab. Initially, important public-dealing departments like Police, Health, Revenue and Education have been chosen to seek feedback of the people, he added.

The spokesman said that the Provincial Government, with the active interest of the Khadem-e-Punjab, started implementing the Public Feedback Model in April 2010 in six districts. After significant positive feedback, it has set up a special Cell in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, developed a pilot-project and contracted a Call-Centre to scale-up and institutionalize the idea so that people could be fully facilitated.

While explaining the modus operandi, the spokesman said that when a citizen goes to a government office to avail services like driving license, character certificate and property registration etc., the concerned office records his or her mobile number along with the transaction details. This data is then passed on to local Officers and to a Call-Center through an online data entry form or through SMS. The local Officers call selected citizens, while Call-Center sends SMS messages to citizens and also calls them to inquire about the quality of services received.

The spokesman further held the view that unlike most such efforts in developing countries, this initiative has been taken by the Punjab Government itself. This one of a kind Model of Proactive Governance aims at building sustained mutual trust with citizens, increasing citizens’ participation, reducing corruption and improving service-delivery by enabling effective monitoring. The powerful deterrence created by this easy communication of Government with the citizens, availing a service in any corner and backed by a credible threat of punitive action, was helping to put strong curbs on corruption and realizing the citizens that the State is answerable to them, concluded the spokesman.

Meanwhile The first meeting of committee formed under directives of CM, Punjab for building multi- storied flats on ownership rights for slum dwellers was held at commissioner office. The meeting chaired by committee’s chairman Muhammad Haneef Abassi has issued directives for carrying out a comprehensive survey of slums, in order to construct multi-storied building for poor on ownership basis.

It is pertinent to note that CM, Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, formed the committee to solve residential problems on ownership basis for poor slum-dwellers.-Online

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