Federal Ombudsman (Wafaqi Mohtasib) Mr. Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi has urged the Federal Government Agencies of Bahawalpur Division to implement his decisions against maladministration and administrative excesses expeditiously so that the rights of the marginalized and poor strata of the society are protected.

He was presiding over a meeting of officers of Regional Office Bahawalpur where the implementation rate of Ombudsman’s decisions was around 76%. Mr. Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi said that most of the complaints of this region pertain to poor people and their speedy resolution by all concerned was the urgent need of the hour.

The increase in the receipt of complaints, in this region against mal-administration and administrative excesses is 20.26% whereas the increase in disposal of complaints is 24.689% which is quite reasonable  but there is a need to improve the implementation rate .He also commended the role of the Regional Office, Bahawalpur in undertaking the initiative for resolution of complaints through the mechanism of Informal Resolution of Disputes (IRD) under which 130 cases were registered in the month of July, 2023. He further said that a manageable number of cases should be registered under IRD and they should be decided within 60 days.

He added that the IRD is a simple mechanism which is similar to age old panchayet and jirga system under which the decisions are made through mediation and conciliation. He informed that since its launching in April 2022, more than 2275 cases have been disposed of while127 cases are in process which is clear indication of its wider acceptability amongst the public. He advised the WM officers to visit the far flung areas under Outreach Complaint Resolution (OCR) program and resolve the people’s complaints at their doorsteps.