Punjab helps KPK government introduce best ICT practices

"The Punjab government will help Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa government to introduce best ICT practices to improve good governance and public service delivery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," said Punjab Information Technology Board Chairman Doctor Umar Saif in a meeting on Thursday with a delegation from Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa headed by provincial IT Secretary Farah Hamid Khan.
In response of the keen interest shown by the delegates in the Punjab's IT based initiatives, Dr Saif gave an in-depth insight on the functioning of e-government projects taken for good governance and transparency in Punjab. He also talked about the board steps to enhance the efficiency of the public sectors in education, health, police, local government, food, agriculture, irrigation, livestock, disaster management and rescue. He also discussed the initiatives aiming to eliminate "Patwari and Thana Culture" in the Punjab.
Dr Saif said, "The Citizen Feedback Model introduced by the board was recently adopted by Albania which was a global recognition of the board's best practices. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is the main driving force behind such innovations who has a clear vision to provide the common public with the benefits of technology and bring down government-citizen interface. He encourages us by allocating sufficient resources for IT based projects.
"We are introducing ICT tools in almost all departments of the Punjab to bring efficient change. Either it is an anti-dengue campaign or anti-corruption drive, the board has played its role by giving the results-one of whom you may see that Pakistan has improved its global position in efforts to combat corruption. President of the World Bank has lauded our projects in an event held in the Philippines last year."
The IT secretary IT then praised digitised books made under e-Learn project of the board, saying, "We are closely watching your all programs and their output that is very inspiring. Your Plan9 is becoming famous all the way across Pakistan. Any collaboration between KPK [Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa] and the Punjab will ultimately benefit the lives of common men that our chief minister wished to have. We have learnt a lot from the Punjab experience of e-governance and will use it as guideline to make a better KPK." Dr Saif then presented mementos of Arfa IT Tower to the guests.