SARGODHA: A regional office of the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat was launched here on Thursday to address the grievances against mismanagement of the federal government institutions in the area.

Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz inaugurated the office.

Speaking on the occasion, he said any citizen of Pakistan could lodge a complaint against the mismanagement of federal institutions anytime as the office would receive complaints round the clock.

“The office has no complaint fee and no lawyer required and every complaint is decided within 60 days strictly on merit.”

Describing the background, importance and role of the federal ombudsman, Mr Shahbaz said when this office was established in 1983, 7,812 complaints were received in a year while in 2020 this number increased to 133,000. He said so far in the year 2021, the office had decided more than 89,000 complaints.

He informed the audience that last year, 133,521 complaints were received and 130,112 of them were decided out of which 89pc decisions were implemented.

Mr Shahbaz said the officers of the local office would visit the tehsil and district headquarters to hear the grievances of the people. He added that for the convenience of Pakistanis abroad, the office had set up ‘one-window desks’ at all the international airports in Pakistan where the officials dealing with Pakistanis abroad were available 24 hours a day.

DEMAND: Students of the Government Ambala Muslim College are forced to study in the open in the cold winter despite the tall claims by the government regarding provisions of facilities to students.

It was stated by Hafiz Muhammad Ramzan, president of the All Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association, Sargodha chapter.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2021