A Comprehensive Guide to Pakistan Citizen Portal (PCP)

Navigate to:
About the Portal
Objectives
Features
Registration Process
Lodging a Complaint
Complaint handling Process
Follow-up
Latest Update

update (4-dec-2020) : Prime Minister, Imran Khan, held a conference on the 4th of December, Friday, to let the people know of the progress made by the Pakistan Citizen Portal, launched in 2018. For more details, continue reading the blog.

Prime Minister Citizen Portal and PM Citizen Portal are the titles that are interchangeably used for the website used for addressing citizen’s concerns and grievances – Pakistan Citizen Portal. The portal [which can also be accessed via mobile application] is closely monitored by the central government with an aim to bring ease to the citizens. In this blog, we will take a look at some of the most amazing features of the website, along with its uses, achievements, and latest developments.

Let’s begin!

More About Pakistan Citizen’s Portal 

Right after Pakistan Citizen Portal KPK became a hit in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Government of Pakistan implemented this program across the country in October 2018. After its integration, any individual can use the PM Citizen Portal to interact with the administration for various complaints and injustices. We’ve mentioned the important ones below:

• Information: The portal can be used to gain information on any government agency.
• Suggestions: As a participating citizen, you can make suggestions related to any existing problem faced by the society. You can also suggest any change to a policy or even a complete new reform.
• Complaint: You can also register a complaint on the portal, it can be related to a personal issue, a general issue, or violation of any law.

While we’ve mentioned some general uses of the portal, there are additional portals that have been integrated recently:

• Zainab Alert: Using this feature in the PM Citizen Portal application, anyone can file a missing child report and alert the authorities immediately.
• Corona Relief Tigers: With this feature, socially responsible citizens can become a part of the corona task force since it is created to help the needy.

With this application and the Punjab Tourism App, the government is doing its best to facilitate Pakistanis in every walk of life from tourism to daily issues.  

Objectives of the Prime Minister Portal

The main objective of the portal is to build a safer place by promoting active engagement between the citizens and the law makers. 

That said, Prime Minister Portal aims to:

• Empower government institutions and bridge the gap between citizens and departments. 
• Resolve and respond to the problems faced by the citizens on a daily basis. 
• Be certain that the complaints are forwarded to the respective bodies in a timely manner.
• Respond to the complaints in a timely manner and keep the citizens updated about the process.
• Make sure that a proper response has been given to registered issues. 
• Sort out the suggestion and integrate them in the best suited policy.
• Set up procedures to handle confidentiality issues.
• Merge the complaint cells of the government bodies with the citizen portal.

Features of the Prime Minister Citizen’s Portal 

Here are some salient features of Prime Minister Portal: 

• Free-of-cost sign up
• Give suggestions 
• Post a complaint 
• Seek information 

Furthermore, once you’ve created the account, you will have a direct link with the authorities. Basically, the complaints, suggestions, and information will be looked into the officials without any middle-man or messenger. You can check the status of the complaint without having to visit the offices and wait for months to find out if some action will be taken.

Registration on Pakistan Citizen Portal

The signing up process on Prime Minister Portal is pretty straight forward. 

• First thing first: search for ‘Pakistan Citizen Portal’ on the application store of your phone and download it.
• Once you’ve finished installing the application, enter required details. 
• After filling out all the empty fields, you become a registered member and can now easily lodge a complaint. 

You also need to classify yourself in the given categories:

• Pakistani residents
• Overseas Pakistani
• Foreigners or non-citizens 

Furthermore, registering for a government monitored portal might seem daunting, citizen portal registration comprises a few simple steps. Now that you know how to get registered on the portal, here are a few general complaints that you can lodge: 

• Poor service delivery
• Inappropriate staff behavior 
• Inefficient systems
• Merit violation 
• Low-quality administration 

Lodging a Complaint

A taxpayer can file a complaint against any authoritative body or a person that falls under the regulation of the government of Pakistan. Citizens can file a complaint on agriculture departments, board of investment, PIA, or any malpractice or corruption they have witnessed or been the victim of.

• Choose a programme you want to register the complaint against. 
• Select the department of the chosen program.
• Pick the category.
• Enter all the details about the grievance.
• Some details about the place where the issue rose from.
• If you have some proof or file regarding the complaint, it is best to attach it.

Note: You are also given the option to file the complaint anonymously.

Complaint Handling Process at PM Citizen Portal

A complaint filed on the citizen’s portal will not be lost, as it goes through automated stages. 

New Complaints

A newly filed Pakistan citizen portal complaint will be placed under the new complaints section until it is opened. After which the process of resolution will start, and so will the timer [the time period under which the issue must be resolved, given by the prime minister].

In-Process Complaints

When a complaint is opened, it moves to the ‘in-process complaints’ stage. At this stage, the process of resolving the problem starts, and it is escalated to the relevant authorities.

Escalated Complaints

A complaint reaches this stage, when the authorities fail to address an issue in the given time period. It has two further stages:

• Initial escalation: If the relevant departments fall short of solving the problem, within 20 days, the complaint is moved to this stage, where the higher ups can see the status of the complaint.
• Super escalation: After 41 days of lodging, if the complaint is still not resolved, then it will take the status of super escalation, where it will remain there until the even higher authorities are notified, especially the Prime Minister’s office.

Resolved

After a suitable action has been taken, and the complaint has been resolved, it takes the status of closed.

Forwarded Complaints

The complaint is escalated to the relevant authorities during initial stages. Sometimes, due to a mistake, it is forwarded to the wrong department. The process is kept as a two way, so the department can send the complaint back to its initial stage. It will again be put in the new complaints section.

Reopened Complaints

If after an error, a complaint is forwarded back to its initial stage, it is reopened immediately, and the process starts again.

Follow-Up Mechanism

A follow-up mechanism has been designed by the government, to keep track of the officials and their performance.

Every month a committee sits to oversee the efficiency of the system, and the nature of the complaints, furthermore, a quarterly analysis will be sent to the heads by the departments.

Efficiency of the administrator is judged on the following bases.

• Number of complaints resolved,
• The satisfaction of the citizens, observed by the feedback, (yes, you can give feedback to the government)
• Number of complaints solved in the given time period.

Latest Updates on Pakistan Citizen Portal

Here’re all the current updates on PM’s Citizen Portal:

Conference

In a conference on 4-Dec, PM Imran Khan’s team has revealed that over 2.76 million Pakistanis have filed a complaint on the portal. Most of these complaints are associated with municipalities. The team also revealed that out of all the provinces, KPK citizens were the most satisfied users with the operations of the portal. 

In the speech given by the Prime Minister Imran Khan, he strongly urged the citizens to make use of the portal for their issues and complaints regarding public services institutions in both the private and government sector. He further ensured the citizens that the complaints will be properly dealt with and that the citizens will be empowered.

The portal can be visited via the website besides the mobile app. For further details you can reach them on the Pakistan citizen portal helpline for guidance.

Official website: https://web.citizenportal.gov.pk/ 

Contact Number: +92-51-9000111

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