DLP Report
PESHAWAR
Provincial Minister for Science, Technology and Information Technology Shafi Jan on Thursday directed the authorities to accelerate the digitisation of government departments and establish citizen facilitation centres in every district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He was speaking at a high-level briefing meeting held at the office of the Secretary Science and Information Technology, where he reviewed the department’s performance, ongoing projects and future initiatives.
Secretary Abdul Basit, Director General Science and Technology Sajid Ali Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board Managing Director Dr Aqif Khan and other senior officials attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that the department was working on initiatives to promote science, technology and innovation, e-governance, digitisation, research and development, IT education and training, industrial development and support for local IT companies.
Officials said work was also under way to establish IT parks and promote software exports in the province. Six model IT labs had been established in schools in the merged districts, while a Cyber Response Emergency Centre had also been set up.
Under the Good Governance Strategy, services of six departments had already been digitised, the meeting was told.
Officials further said KP had become the first province in the country to formulate a Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy.
Briefing participants about citizen facilitation centres, officials said such centres had been established at various divisional headquarters, providing services including domicile certificates, driving licences and birth certificates under one roof.
Mr Jan said the science, technology and IT sector would prove to be a “game changer” for KP, adding that provision of efficient and transparent public services through modern technology was among the government’s priorities.
He directed officials to take effective measures to digitise all government departments, saying the move would improve transparency and could also help increase provincial revenue.
The minister also ordered the establishment of citizen facilitation centres in every district so that people could access government services at a single location. He directed that arrangements also be made at the centres to facilitate payment of utility bills.
He stressed the need to accelerate efforts to provide government services to citizens at their doorstep through digital systems and called for maximum use of modern technology in public service delivery.
He said measures would be taken to further promote digital governance in the province in line with the government’s stated vision and priorities.
