Citizen, Punjab Portals become inactive

The Pakistan Citizen Portal and Punjab Portal have been made inactive unannounced since the new government took over, with citizens saying that their grievances are not being redressed.

Former prime minister Imran Khan had set up these portals for the prompt solution of citizens' grievances at federal and provincial levels. Citizens file a complaint against any department from the comfort of their own homes and their problems were being solved promptly, as the prime minister and chief minister could directly see complaints filed on both portals.

According to sources in the Punjab government, the new government has shown no interest in the online citizen portal and the problems being faced by the residents are not being taken care of. Earlier, immediate redressal via the portals had restored the public’s confidence in the government.

The Citizen Portal had become popular among citizens and had received four million complaints since it was launched.

Most of the citizens' problems were solved at their doorstep, but this is no longer the case since the new government came in power.

Complaints filed in the Citizen Portal were against illegal occupancy, Punjab Police, WAPDA, WASA, PIA, Revenue, District Administration, Education, Health, Sanitation Department, Postal System, Railways, Metros buses, Motorway Police, Broken Roads, domestic disputes, and other issues.

According to sources, these portals are popular among the people and they want the government to keep them operational. They added that it was a great initiative of the previous government because through these portals, citizens could not only file complaints against government officials without disclosing their identities but their grievances were also redressed.

A resident of Rawalpindi named Muhammad Omar said that the Citizen Portal and the Punjab Portal are the most helpful projects of the previous government. He added that citizens had this feeling that their voices will be heard and their problems will be solved through these portals which prompted government departments to take immediate action in response to citizen complaints. In any case, the new government should maintain this system, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2022.