Ombudsman Office receive 190,000 complaints during current year

ISLAMABAD (APP): Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsman), Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has directed the investigation officers and the heads of federal agencies to ensure timely implementation of Wafaqi Mohtasib decisions since no slackness would be tolerated on this count.

He said that 178000 complaints have so far been decided since January 2023 and the number of complaints may touch an all-time high figure of 190000 by the year-end.

Wafaqi Mohtasib was presiding over a high-level meeting of WM Regional Officers from Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, and Gujranwala on Wednesday. Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi, speaking to the media in Lahore, for the first time after having been elected as President of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) said that it was a great honor and recognition of Pakistan’s valuable contribution.

Commending the performance of the Regional Offices, he reiterated his firm commitment to resolving the issues faced by the poor masses. He said that the Wafaqi Mohtasib was a “ poor man’s court’’ and its main purpose was to redress the grievance of oppressed and marginalized members of the community.

All out efforts would be undertaken by the government officials to resolve the complaints so that relief was provided to poor strata, he added. He said without the allocation of additional budget and manpower, the officers of Wafaqi Mohtasib had put in their best to reach out to the public to resolve their complaints through Khulli Katchehries and IRD.

He said several complaints, filed with Wafaqi Mohtasib, were increasing every year and only in 2022 WM received 164174 complaints out of which 154770 complaints were resolved.

This year WMS has received 183000 complaints till now and it is expected that this number may reach 190000 by the end of the year, he added. He said his increase in the number of complaints showed the trust of the people, reposed in the Wafaqi Mohtasib institution. He commended the role of media in creating awareness about the institution of Wafaqi Mohtasib among the public, he added.

Wafaqi Mohtasib also highlighted steps being taken for the benefit of the pensioners, Overseas Pakistanis, Prisoners, and specially the Women and Child Prisoners. He emphasized that the media to cooperate in disseminating the message of Wafaqi Mohtasib to far-flung areas to ensure that poor segments of society receive the information about Wafaqi Mohtasib and enable them to get timely relief.

He said that in April 2022, Information Resolution of Disputes (IRD) was initiated in selective Regional Offices which received full positive response, and up till now 2951 cases have been decided under IRD Programme while 473 cases were under process.