Citizen's Portal leaves much to be desired.

The Pakistan Citizen's Portal, launched by the government in 2018, is proving to be ineffective in resolving the concerns of the common man given that a huge number of queries are closed without giving any relief to the complainant.

Inam Jamil Anjum, a retired employee of a state-owned bank in Pakistan, also knocked at the door of Prime Minister Imran Khan through his complaint portal.

The management of his former workplace, however, told the PM's Office that the issue had been resolved and that Anjum's complaint did not have merit. He is not alone. Ghulam Ahmad is also seeking justice for his expatriate son, who bought a piece of land in the National Police Foundation (NPF). Just like Anjum, Ahmad too lodged a complaint on the PM's portal and he is now shuttling between NPF and the Capital Development Authority.

The NPF allotted Ahmad's son a plot on green belt and despite admitting the fact that he has been robbed, no department could help him get justice, including the PM's Office. Anjum claims that he was 'unjustifiably denied promotion as vice president in 2012' and he retired without getting his due right, which also affected his retirement benefits, including pension.

He left the bank in August 2017 after attaining the superannuation age and since then he is attempting to 'get justice'. In May last year, he took to the PM's portal and complained that two employees in his bank were promoted to the positions of vice president despite scoring fewer grades than him. Anjum demanded equal treatment.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the unaddressed complaints lodged on the Pakistan Citizen's Portal (PCP) in 2021 and directed the officials concerned to review the backlog.

According to a letter from the Prime Minister's Office, a total of 1.5 million complaints were received on the portal in 2021 and out of them, a set of 238,098 complaints were earmarked for reopening on the basis of negative public feedback. These complaints were closed as 'relief granted' but the citizens denied receiving any relief. PM's Office said that it needed to be ascertained how relief was denied or whether it was granted in the first place or not.

A new draft audit report of Anjum's former workplace, which the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) prepared, also revealed that in 2016 the then...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT