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KARACHI, Jul 24 (APP):Provincial Ombudsman Sindh, Mohammad Sohail Rajput on Thursday said due to lack of awareness only 9000 complaints were registered out of 55.5 million population of the province while 6700 cases have been resolved.
Addressing an awareness seminar titled “The Role of Provincial Ombudsman Sindh in Public Grievance Redressal” Rajput said lack of awareness and trust in the institutions were main reasons of not registering complaints by the people.
The seminar was jointly organized by the Directorate of Climate and Disaster Redressal Unit, Provincial Ombudsman Sindh, and Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Sindh.
Sohail Rajput stated that efforts are being made to raise awareness through media, social media, seminars, and public hearings. “We have also set a three-month resolution time frame for complaints and ensure that complainants are not made to run from pillar to post unnecessarily, he added.”
Sohail Rajput announced that an MoU with PRCS Sindh would soon be signed.
Speaking on climate change issue, he noted that regions like KP and Punjab are currently experiencing natural disasters, while in 2020, Karachi witnessed 287 mm of rain in just six hours due to a cloudburst.
Rajput emphasized the need for collaborative efforts to address climate and disaster challenges and welcomed other institutions to join hands. Highlighting past efforts, he said that over 500 unresolved land and housing project complaints pending for five years were taken up with the Chief Minister of Sindh, who constituted a four-member cabinet committee to propose solutions within three months.
He also stated that the Ombudsman’s Office takes suo motu notice in the public interest and is working to digitize the entire complaints system this year. A bilingual (Urdu and Sindhi) website and app are also being launched soon.
Chairman PRCS Sindh, Rehan Hashmi reiterated PRCS’s readiness to serve during disasters. He praised the Ombudsman’s Office for efficiently addressing public complaints against government entities and emphasized that the joint seminar aimed to raise public awareness about how citizens can access free and prompt justice against government malpractices through proper channels.
Secretary to the Ombudsman Sindh Mansoor Abbas Rizvi, Registrar Masood Ishrat; Secretary PRCS Sindh, Kanwar Waseem; Director of Climate and Disaster Justice Unit, Ombudsman Sindh Office, Imdad Hussain Siddiqui; Special Secretary Education, Syed Imdad Ali Shah, Chair UN PPT/ Provincial Head UNICEF Sindh Prem Chand and representatives from national and international NGOs.