Paperwork: Lahore police to establish service centres
Each centre to cater to 10-12 police stations, construction to begin in 6-8 months.
One centre will cater to a group of 10 to 12 police stations, each of which will send a moharrar to staff the service centre. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
The police is to set up service centres around the city where citizens can get paperwork currently requiring a trip to a police station.
The services on offer will include verification of documents for vehicles at the time of sale or purchase, entry reports for stolen documents like ID cards, final or ‘untraced’ reports for insurance purposes for stolen vehicles and character certificates for visas, officials in the DIG (Investigations) office told The Express Tribune.
“The idea behind the establishment of service centres is to facilitate the public in the provision of non-police work that they have to go to police stations for,” said Investigations DIG Zulfiqar Hameed.
One centre will cater to a group of 10 to 12 police stations, each of which will send a moharrar to staff the service centre.
Sources at the Investigations DIG’s office said that the PC1 for the project was near completion and would presented to the Planning Commission within a month.
Crime Records Office SP Mustafa Hameed Malik estimated that construction work on the service centres would start in about six to eight months, provided funding for the project was approved.
Senior police officials had recently voiced concern that police stations were inundated with non-criminal bureaucratic work. “Police stations in Lahore are overloaded with work and citizens going there for non police work have to go through much hassle. These special centres will provide better service delivery,” said Cantonment SP Umar Riaz Cheema
The SP said that a person visiting the service centre would first have to fill out a short form with the help of staff and then be referred to one of four counters, each dedicated to one of the four specific services on offer.
Citizens will be entertained on a first-come, first-served basis. They will need to bring certain documents with them depending on the service they seek. For example, for verification of vehicles, they would have to bring the original documents and the vehicle itself to check the chassis number. In cases of suspect vehicles, the documents would be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory. The requisite reports would be provided through a one-window operation. Citizens will also be able to offer feedback on their experience at the service centres via text messages and questionnaires.
Police officials said that the services on offer at the centres may later be expanded to include reporting of offences related to cheques, fraud and land records.
Asked how the police would obtain the land required for these centres, SP Cheema said that funds would be sought from the government, but if they were not available, there were several affluent citizens in the city “willing to donate or lend land for this noble cause”.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2013.
The police is to set up service centres around the city where citizens can get paperwork currently requiring a trip to a police station.
The services on offer will include verification of documents for vehicles at the time of sale or purchase, entry reports for stolen documents like ID cards, final or ‘untraced’ reports for insurance purposes for stolen vehicles and character certificates for visas, officials in the DIG (Investigations) office told The Express Tribune.
“The idea behind the establishment of service centres is to facilitate the public in the provision of non-police work that they have to go to police stations for,” said Investigations DIG Zulfiqar Hameed.
One centre will cater to a group of 10 to 12 police stations, each of which will send a moharrar to staff the service centre.
Sources at the Investigations DIG’s office said that the PC1 for the project was near completion and would presented to the Planning Commission within a month.
Crime Records Office SP Mustafa Hameed Malik estimated that construction work on the service centres would start in about six to eight months, provided funding for the project was approved.
Senior police officials had recently voiced concern that police stations were inundated with non-criminal bureaucratic work. “Police stations in Lahore are overloaded with work and citizens going there for non police work have to go through much hassle. These special centres will provide better service delivery,” said Cantonment SP Umar Riaz Cheema
The SP said that a person visiting the service centre would first have to fill out a short form with the help of staff and then be referred to one of four counters, each dedicated to one of the four specific services on offer.
Citizens will be entertained on a first-come, first-served basis. They will need to bring certain documents with them depending on the service they seek. For example, for verification of vehicles, they would have to bring the original documents and the vehicle itself to check the chassis number. In cases of suspect vehicles, the documents would be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory. The requisite reports would be provided through a one-window operation. Citizens will also be able to offer feedback on their experience at the service centres via text messages and questionnaires.
Police officials said that the services on offer at the centres may later be expanded to include reporting of offences related to cheques, fraud and land records.
Asked how the police would obtain the land required for these centres, SP Cheema said that funds would be sought from the government, but if they were not available, there were several affluent citizens in the city “willing to donate or lend land for this noble cause”.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2013.