KARACHI: Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi on Wednesday said that the number of complaints received in the current year is expected to reach 160,000, and most of the complaints filed by the public are against power DISCOs and natural gas distribution companies.
He was addressing a press conference after chairing a meeting with representatives of different federal government departments and service provider companies at Federal Ombudsman Regional Office, Karachi.
Senior adviser and in charge regional Office Syed Anwar Haider was also present.
Federal Ombudsman said that power distribution companies and natural gas providing companies had a vast clientele consisting of millions of people that’s why number of complaints against them was also high.
Same was the case with other government entities those deal with public, he argued and added that number of public complaints against BISP, EOBI, State Life and Postal Life insurance was also high.
The Federal Ombudsman Secretariat (FOS) disposes off a complaint within 60 days while implementation on the decision was also ensured within a month or two, Qureshi said adding that compliance ratio in decided cases was over 90 percent while implementation in the remaining cases delays due to filling of appeal to the president or matter taken to courts.
Advisers were also directed to hold frequent visits to departments and organizations involved in public dealing like NADRA, EOBI and Utility Stores and resolve issue of minor nature on the spot and referring the major issues to headquarter, he said and added that the some issues were also resolved through mediation.
Highlighting efforts for resolving issues of overseas Pakistanis, he said that a dedicated wing was set up in the regard and foreign missions were requested to reserve a day in a week to receive and resolve problems of Pakistanis working abroad who were playing a remarkable role in economic development of the country.
He added that on directives of FOS one window operation was launched at all international airports of the country where officials of 12 relevant agencies and organisations including FIA and Customs were deputed to facilitate the passengers.
The FOS was giving special attention to resolve issues pertaining to children and a dedicated wing was working at FOS to deal with children’s issues while a help line 1056 was established to receive complaints of children, Federal Ombudsman said and informed that the secretariat in collaboration with ministry of human rights and NGOs carried out a research study on street children and their issues in Islamabad.
The report- containing issues like physical, psychological and sexual abuse being faced by street children and recommendation to address the issues- was shared with all the relevant departments so that appropriate measures could be taken to alleviate their status, he informed adding that the secretariat will ensure follow up of the report and on successful implementation of recommendation in the federal capital the scope of the initiative would be extended to provincial level, as well.
The ombudsman lauded role of media in sensitising public regarding their rights.
Earlier, the Federal Ombudsman chaired a meeting with heads of different agencies including Amir Zia, Chief Distribution Officer K-Electric, Lt. Col (Rtd) Muhammad Anees Khan, DG NADRA, Imran Munir, MD SSGC, Capt. Rtd. Asim Khan, Director (Operations) FIA, and officers of State Bank, State Life Insurance, EOBI and other departments.
Senior Adviser Anwar Haider briefed the meeting about overall performance of the regional office and informed that the agencies were extending cooperation regarding disposal and redressal of public complaints.
Haider apprised that there had been some issues regarding implementation and reporting of the cases previously but now most of the reports were being received on first hearing of the cases.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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