From pilot project to province-wide initiative

Police ‘Khidmat Markaz’ set up to facilitate citizens under one roof

MULTAN: What was once a government rest house located between the shrines of Sufi saints Shah Rukn-e-Alam and Bahauddin Zakariya, is now a Police Khidmat Markaz. The building, which gives a view of the entire city, was barely used before it became ground zero for the police’s new initiative.

The pilot project, which was initially started in Multan district, was initiated by former Multan DIG Ahsan Younus. Younus says that the goal behind establishing the centres was to provide a place where citizens can be provided all services under one roof.

At the same, Multan police had researched at a district level and discovered that 54% of the queries at police stations are concerning services and documents, 20% are non-cognisable offences and only 26% are hard core crime cases, he said. He added that between 410,000 and 425,000 FIRs are registered in the province annually.

“However, majority of the police’s time is spent in services regarding documents and non-cognisable offences,” he said. “It came to our notice that the police are unable to resolve hard crime cases because they are so wrapped up in other tasks,” he explained.

He stated that he originally floated the idea of converting the rest house into a Khidmat Markaz in September 2017, to the then Punjab additional IG Arif Nawaz, now the Punjab IGP, who gave the project the green signal.

Under his supervision, the police’s two main functions, of providing services and maintaining law and order, were separated, he said. He added that the project was expanded to the entire province in January 2018 and is now catering to the needs of millions.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Punjab IGP Arif Nawaz said the Police Integrated Khimat Markaz System, popularly known as Khimat Markaz, is the biggest centralized system in Pakistan after the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). “Over 2.5 million people have benefitted from the services provided by the centres over the past year,” he said.

He said that Khimat centres provide 19 types of services including providing character certificates, across district character certificates, general police verification, employee registration, tenant registration and vehicle registration.

Several other services, such as issuing learner’s licenses, bank services and token tax collection, are provided on the spot or on the same day, he added.

“No extra funds were released by the government for this project,” he explained. All government facilities, such as rest houses and buildings, which were vacant and not being utilized were renovated using money from the police’s funds with no extra expenditure, he said.

Using technology, the entire system was synchronised and expanded to other districts in the province, he said. “You can avail a slew of services at Khidmat Marakaz from anywhere in Punjab,” he expressed.

Social rights activist Nasir Sheikh said that the Khidmat centres are a huge revolutionary step by the Punjab government. “It has separated the functions of the police force, which has enabled them to focus on hard crime and maintain law and order,” he said.

Advocate Esa Ghazi said that this developed computerised police system will help in eradicating corruption, nepotism and bribery and will help in building public trust. “Citizens can receive their documents at their doorstep without having to bribe officials,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2019.