Punjab cabinet: Six amendment bills approved

CM stresses importance of e-govt, ‘Jhang model of governance’.

LAHORE:

The Punjab cabinet has given approval to six amendment bills for agriculture and labour in order to take control of subjects devolved to the provinces under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.

At a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday, the cabinet approved amendments to the Punjab Agricultural Pesticides Ordinance 1971 (amended up to 1997), the West Pakistan Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance 1968, the West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance 1958, the Workers’ Children (Education) Ordinance 1972, the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1923 and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992.

The cabinet also gave approval to a website for Daanish Schools and formed a committee to come up with recommendations for the promotion of “e-government”, or the idea that government can deliver services to the public more efficiently and cheaply via the internet.

Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said that the government was taking “revolutionary measures” to improve public service delivery. “Promotion of e-government will not only eliminate corruption and malpractice, but result in capacity-building of departments, which will help provide better services to the people,” he said.

Sharif said that the government had started a programme to set up citizen contact centres, where citizens can take their complaints about public services and their welfare needs. He said that a cabinet committee would be formed to make suggestion on how to raise awareness about the programme.

The chief minister said that a system introduced at the Lahore High Court whereby people could view the progress of their cases online had been of great benefit to citizens and a similar system should be set up at the Revenue Department so that people can order copies of their property deeds and access other services online.

He said that a fully-functioning e-government system should be installed at the Provincial Disaster Management Authority before the onset of the monsoon season.

He said that an effective system should be created for this purpose with the help of the senior member of the Board of Revenue. The chief minister commended the new Daanish Schools website, but added that moderators were needed to monitor the comments and proposals put on the site by the public.

He said that vigilance committees should be mobilised in each district for the implementation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992. He said that the chief secretary should report whether district coordination officers were holding regular meetings of these committees.

The cabinet praised Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa for efficient handling of the province’s financial affairs. Earlier, Punjab Information Technology Board chairman Dr Javed Ghani and former Jhang DCO Zubair Bhatti briefed the cabinet on citizen contact centres, saying that they were operating in 15 districts and playing an important role in providing services to the public. Bhatti is known as the creator of the ‘Jhang mode of governance’, a reference to his work as DCO to reduce corruption in revenue officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2011.