ICT complaint cell: Call me, maybe?

Cell has received only four complaints in over a month.

ISLAMABAD:

Lack of public awareness due to poor pre-launch advertising has resulted in the online complaint cell set up by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration receiving only four complaints in a period of over a month, said an ICT official.

The cell was set up to facilitate residents of ICT areas who have complaints about police performance or behavior.

The complaint cell started functioning on April 15, 2015. Since then, however, only four calls were received by the administration, which indicates that the public is not aware of the cell, said a senior ICT official.

All calls and text messages sent to the cell are supposed to be verified, and only genuine complaints are taken up. A focal person entertains the complaints, and then attempts to resolve them.

Shalimar Assistant Commission Muzaffar Ali Shah has been given additional charge as the focal person for the cell. An ICT official said that giving additional charge puts extra stress on the official concerned, which could affect performance of the cell.

The administration has set a helpline 1819 urging public to call or text their complaints in case the police refused to entertain them.

The ICT official said that only four complaints were received, all of which were either car thefts or bounced cheques. The data shows that first caller was Abdul Majeed, a resident of G-11 who had complaint that the police did not register a case against a man whose cheque was dishonored.

The second caller was Muhammad Zubair, who complaint about his stolen car. Two complaints were resolved by the cell and two are still pending, said the official.

He said that adequate resources should be provided before launching such cells so that they are properly advertised to the public.

Another senior ICT official said that the initiative could only become a success when the public was made aware of the cell.

When contacted, Islamabad (East) Additional Deputy Commissioner Abdul Sattar Essani confirmed that the administration had received low response to the initiative.

“We expected a great response but received only a few complaints,” he said.

The official claimed the administration had placed different banners in all the 20 police stations of the city advertising the complaint cell but even then there was no success.

“We will gear up our efforts to advertise the cell to the public,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2015.