From Abid Usman
LAHORE: Office of the Punjab ombudsman headed by retired Maj Azam Suleman Khan has achieved success in keeping the public informed through the use of information and communication technology along with active use of social media platforms to provide the necessary information and ensuring easy tracking of complaints by users.
While giving details in a statement issued here on Wednesday, a spokesperson of the body said that in 2021, the Facebook page of the ombudsman office was visited by more than four million people from across the globe.
Similarly, the number of Facebook followers has crossed 50 thousand while complainants also use Facebook Messenger to lodge their complaints with the ombudsman office, he added. The spokesman said the office has been made paperless adding that annual reports of the last 24 years are available online for public view.
Similarly, he further explained that data of 262,092 files, containing details of more than 0.25 million complaints, could also be accessed. For this purpose, 8.5 million pages have been scanned to make available the record to the public, he added.
Meanwhile, the spokesman said the Ombudsman Punjab Management Information System (OPMIS), an indigenously developed interactive mobile application, has been downloaded by more than 10,000 people from the Google Play Store. This app has been rated 4.2 by its users.
This digital facility provides comprehensive and synchronized information to the users like linkage of 42 regional offices’ addresses in 36 districts with Google Maps, regional advisors’ names and their sitting days.
Keeping in view the utility of this app, the dashboard update for regional offices, advisors, consultants, along with file uploading in complaint generation is also added.
Besides lodging complaints in Urdu or English languages, progress on the case could be tracked through this application. The complainant could also check the seven days updated status of the case cause-list against the complaint number.
The people could download certified copies of different cases through this app besides using this facility to forward their children’s related complaints to the chief provincial commissioner for children. Khan has introduced holistic reforms to protect individuals’ rights vis-a-vis the public sector by resolving public issues.
