Governance reform: 7,500 corruption cases disposed of in six months

LAHORE:

Departmental proceedings have been initiated against 7,500 officials over corruption complaints received through a citizen feedback model (CFM) introduced in the province by the Punjab Information Technology Board, PITB Chairman Dr Umar Saif said on Friday.

He said complaints had been received from more than 8 million citizens contacted across the province through the newly introduced telephone help service under the CFM in six months.

Explaining the CFM, Dr Saif said the PITB had been collecting and feeding into a database contact numbers of people who approached district government departments for various public services like domicile certification, issuance of driving license, registry of property deeds, flood relief assistance or treatment at emergency wards of public hospitals. He said the database was then used to contact people and ask them about the quality of the service and their complaints about them.

Dr Saif said the role of the district coordination officer was key to the success of this model for reducing corruption in the government. He said a complaint reported by a citizen was immediately referred to the office of DCO concerned.

The meeting suggested that besides the DCOs the complaints should be referred to executive district officers as well. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2015.