DLP Report
PESHAWAR
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell received 3,551 complaints from citizens between January and August this year, with 988 cases resulting in relief, officials told a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Wednesday.
The meeting reviewed the performance of the complaint mechanism, progress on resolving citizens’ grievances and relief provided to complainants during the eight-month period.
Officials said 499 complaints were resolved at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat upon receipt or the complainants were provided necessary guidance, while 498 were found non-actionable due to jurisdictional limitations or legal complexities.
A further 2,610 complaints were referred to relevant provincial departments for necessary action. Of these, 988 resulted in relief, 11 in partial relief and action on 781 cases was still under way. Another 774 complaints were declared non-actionable as they did not meet the required merit or eligibility criteria.
Land disputes and education-related matters were among the major categories of complaints received through the mechanism.
According to the briefing, 1,090 complaints were submitted manually, 1,047 through WhatsApp, 687 via email, 343 through telephone calls, 273 through Facebook and 111 through X.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Afridi said the performance of the provincial government would not be judged by the number of meetings held or presentations made, but by the satisfaction and testimony of the people.
He said effective grievance redressal and meaningful public participation in governance were central to the vision of PTI founder Imran Khan, adding that the provincial government was pursuing these objectives through practical measures and institutional mechanisms. The chief minister said the future of the provincial government and bureaucracy was directly linked to public satisfaction. Timely resolution of citizens’ complaints, he added, would be an important measure of government performance.
He directed the authorities to launch an awareness campaign about the relief provided through the Complaint Cell so that more citizens could benefit from the facility and access available grievance redressal mechanisms.
The meeting also reviewed the recent incident at Peshawar Nursing College. Taking serious notice of the matter, Mr Afridi said no one would be allowed to take the law into their own hands.
He said the KP Police would not be allowed to adopt the practices of the Punjab Police and directed that all those involved in the incident be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law.
“The students of KP are our children,” he said, adding that the provincial government would take every possible measure to protect their rights and safeguard their interests.
The Chief Secretary briefed the meeting on plans to launch a comprehensive public awareness campaign regarding grievance redressal mechanisms available across the province.
He said the Chief Secretary’s Office and departmental complaint cells would be integrated with the Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell to improve coordination and establish a more effective grievance redressal framework.
The Chief Secretary also said artificial intelligence would be used to analyse complaint trends and categories, enabling the government to identify systemic issues and introduce reforms in the governance system.
The meeting also considered measures to strengthen the complaint mechanism, improve public awareness and interdepartmental coordination, and ensure timely resolution of citizens’ grievances.
