10-30-2006, 11:30 PM
There was a time when a word written on a government department letter head or on a government department document was an authentic information with even not a remotest or slightest chance of wrong. More the democracy lover ruler came more the wrong information came from the government even on the august floor of assemblies. Inaccurate obsolete and old information on government web site is a common thing. The Punjab ombudsman retired, he went home, the new one took charge but name of the out gone ombudsman remained for 18 months as the current ombudsman.
The other day I was surfing the Government of Pakistan web site http//pakistan.gov.pk/forms/viewall.jsp. This is the main Pakistan Government Site and it increased my knowledge to new heights. On the site the Form name is âOverseas Remittance-Cardâ, the issuing authority of which as per web site column is âPakistan Tobacco Boardâ. NTN Registration Application Form and Wealth Tax and Income Tax Registration Form are issued by Department of âComminicationsâ Security. What is this âcomminicationsâ I could not find it in the Islamabad Telephone Directory or in the Oxford Dictionary. Issuing authority for Haj Application Form on Sponsorship is, as per this government site, is the Pakistan Military Accounts Department. The issuing authority for a Visa Form for foreigners or application for citizenship is the Military Lands and Cantonment Department. For the Application Form for purchase of Defence Savings Certificate the issuing authority is the National Police Foundation. The authority for application form for new telephone connection is National Health institute Islamabad. And so on.
The fact is as nearing the end of each financial year the local governments start unplanned so called development work like widening of roads streets etc merely to fully utilize the unspent budget by placing orders to dear one shops and roads are widened leaving the poles middle of widened road, likewise it appears website development only is for spending money, installing computers just to play, surfing the net for children home work, personal typing etc. A British journalist about six months back wrote he saw a computer installed in Islamabad on the table of a senior bureaucrat who even did not know how to switch on or switch off the computer. While most of these government sites do not give proper information there is another angle of it that on most of these sites there is no proper web contact details. It is a universal practice that in addition to normal contacts of different Departments, the contact details of Chief Executive of an organization particularly of a commercial organization is invariably given with the main objective that Chief Executive remains updated with public feed back. On PTCL web site there is no web contact whatsoever of its Chairman. The only contacts are of GMs and not of PTCL Headquarters. If one or two contacts are there those are only of Customer Service Center for corporate clients. One of my friend for the last 8 month continuously is requesting Chairman PTCL to send him his email contact but during 8 months not a single response has been given by the Chairman. 2-3 years back there was a contact email of the Chairman but since bloody ordinary masses started emailing such a VVIP hence it was removed. Similar is the position of President National Bank of Pakistan. There used to be an email contact of President NBP but it was removed since ordinary bloody account holders like me started writing to such a high status banker. One of my friend during the last 8 months have addressed the President NBPâs Personal Office at least 12 times never ever to get any response. NBP web site contact details keep on changing so public may not remember.
The other day I was surfing the Government of Pakistan web site http//pakistan.gov.pk/forms/viewall.jsp. This is the main Pakistan Government Site and it increased my knowledge to new heights. On the site the Form name is âOverseas Remittance-Cardâ, the issuing authority of which as per web site column is âPakistan Tobacco Boardâ. NTN Registration Application Form and Wealth Tax and Income Tax Registration Form are issued by Department of âComminicationsâ Security. What is this âcomminicationsâ I could not find it in the Islamabad Telephone Directory or in the Oxford Dictionary. Issuing authority for Haj Application Form on Sponsorship is, as per this government site, is the Pakistan Military Accounts Department. The issuing authority for a Visa Form for foreigners or application for citizenship is the Military Lands and Cantonment Department. For the Application Form for purchase of Defence Savings Certificate the issuing authority is the National Police Foundation. The authority for application form for new telephone connection is National Health institute Islamabad. And so on.
The fact is as nearing the end of each financial year the local governments start unplanned so called development work like widening of roads streets etc merely to fully utilize the unspent budget by placing orders to dear one shops and roads are widened leaving the poles middle of widened road, likewise it appears website development only is for spending money, installing computers just to play, surfing the net for children home work, personal typing etc. A British journalist about six months back wrote he saw a computer installed in Islamabad on the table of a senior bureaucrat who even did not know how to switch on or switch off the computer. While most of these government sites do not give proper information there is another angle of it that on most of these sites there is no proper web contact details. It is a universal practice that in addition to normal contacts of different Departments, the contact details of Chief Executive of an organization particularly of a commercial organization is invariably given with the main objective that Chief Executive remains updated with public feed back. On PTCL web site there is no web contact whatsoever of its Chairman. The only contacts are of GMs and not of PTCL Headquarters. If one or two contacts are there those are only of Customer Service Center for corporate clients. One of my friend for the last 8 month continuously is requesting Chairman PTCL to send him his email contact but during 8 months not a single response has been given by the Chairman. 2-3 years back there was a contact email of the Chairman but since bloody ordinary masses started emailing such a VVIP hence it was removed. Similar is the position of President National Bank of Pakistan. There used to be an email contact of President NBP but it was removed since ordinary bloody account holders like me started writing to such a high status banker. One of my friend during the last 8 months have addressed the President NBPâs Personal Office at least 12 times never ever to get any response. NBP web site contact details keep on changing so public may not remember.