LAHORE: The additional chief secretary, Punjab, has decided to revive his field visits to strengthen governance reforms at grassroots level and translate them into measurable improvements in service delivery at the district and tehsil levels.
ACS Iftikhar Ali Sahoo has written a letter and instructed the commissioners, deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners, divisional heads of the relevant line departments that he would visit divisions on a fortnightly basis and all concerned must identify field-level issues and timely resolution of the matters requiring intervention at the provincial level.
The letter says the ACS will review progress on the chief minister’s priority initiatives, governance initiatives, and development review during his surprise visits.With regard to the CM’s priority initiatives, the line departments and field formations shall brief on implementation status, performance against targets and key issues relating to Suthra Punjab, Saaf Pani, Wasa, sewerage and drainage matters, PHAs; Apna Khet Apna Rozgar Programme, Apni Chhat Apna Ghar Programme and others.
In order to improve governance, the commissioners and the DCs have been instructed to brief on e-FOAS adoption and file disposal timelines, e-Biz, PULSE. POP, Misali Gaon and other PLRA initiatives, administrative restructuring and field formation reforms, public service delivery and citizen facilitation, including complaint redress; human resource gaps and key vacancies; and major administrative or interdepartmental issues.
For development review, the commissioners shall present a concise review of major and high priority development schemes, progress, funds, and bottlenecks.
The ACS’s visits would be unannounced and no prior intimation of the site would be given.
The ACS asserts that the decisions and directions issued during each visit shall be recorded in minutes, indicating the officer responsible and timeline for compliance, and shall be submitted to his office within three working days.
Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2026
