Dear Editor,
Public Welfare initiatives are often started by government with great fanfare, publicity and vision to address public grievances at grass-root level but they rarely fulfill the mission with which they were initially launched. Initiatives like Benazir Income Support Program, Pakistan Citizen Portal and Ehsaas Programs are commendable projects that reflect government’s vision and inspiring service delivery models.
Undoubtedly, these initiatives are designed and launched for the purpose of empowering citizens- either financially or administratively. However, these service-delivery models often lose track of their agenda after launch. In many cases, citizens are often denied of the financial grant due to flawed verification systems and sometimes their complaints and grievances are not dealt with urgency. Instead of providing relief and assistance to citizens, these initiatives amplify challenges of weak policy implementation, bureaucratic inertia, poor transparency, lack of accountability and endless delays in redressing public grievances. This leads to frustration among citizens rather than serving the purpose.
The real culprits are: weak implementation mechanism, lack of intent and will to facilitate public. When these projects are treated casually at public offices and follow unnecessary procedural formalities on paper instead of focusing on tangible outcomes, they deepen mistrust among citizens and as a result these service models lose their real purpose.
It is imperative that government must revisit these service-delivery models: their implementation mechanism, procedural flaws, and shortcomings in the system. Government must review these models with new commitment to ensure transparency, accountability, proper training of officers, and timely redressal of grievances – to serve the public. There has to be a real shift from merely launching these initiatives to actually transforming them into result-oriented systems.
Public Service models must serve public rather than becoming a tool of publicity launch, political point scoring and acting as dummy models with no real output. The government must move beyond grand launches and commit to transparency, accountability, and urgency. Citizens deserve results!
Farwa Razzaq
Islamabad
Today's E-Paper