LAHORE:,,,Wafaqi Mohtasib Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has directed the investigation officers and the heads of federal agencies to ensure timely implementation of Wafaqi Mohtasib decisions and no slackness in this regard will be tolerated.
According to press release received on Wednesday, he updated that 178,000 complaints have so far been decided since January 2023 and the number of complaints may touch an all time high figure of 190,000 by the end 2023. Wafaqi Mohtasib was presiding over a high level meeting of WM Regional Officers from Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Gujranwala, here today.
Mr Qureshi who was speaking to media at Lahore for the first time after having been elected as President of Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) said that the election of Wafaqi Mohtasib as President of the AOA was a great honour for the country and recognition of Pakistan’s valuable contribution in the Asian Ombuds community.
Commending the performance of the Regional Offices, he reiterated his firm commitment of resolving issues faced by the poor masses. He said that the Wafaqi Mohtasib is a “ poorman’s court’’ and its main purpose is to redress the grievance of oppressed and the marginalized members of the community.
He added that all efforts be undertaken by the government officials to resolve the complaints so that relief is provided to poor strata. The Wafaqi Mohtasib while talking to media said that without allocation of additional budget and manpower, the officers of Wafaqi Mohtasib have put in their best to reach out the public and resolved their complaints through KhulliKatchehries and IRD.
He further said that the number of the complaints being received by the Wafaqi Mohtasib is increasing every year and only in 2022 WM received 164174 complaints out of which 154770 complaints were resolved. This year WMS have received 183000 complaints till now and it is expected that this number may reach to 190000 by the end of the year. This increase in number of complaints shows the trust of the people reposed in the Wafaqi Mohtasib,s institution. He commended the role of media in creating awareness about the institution of Wafaqi Mohtasib among the public.
Wafaqi Mohtasib also highlighted steps being taken for the benefit of the pensioners, overseas Pakistanis, prisoners, specially the women and child prisoners. He emphasised upon 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 very positive response and up till now 2951 cases have been decided under IRD Programme while 473 cases are under process.
