Govt unveils ‘revolutionary reforms’ in various sectors

The government has announced massive reforms in multiple public sectors including customs, banking, overseas Pakistanis, IT, health, and social welfare to facilitate people by ensuring smooth service delivery.

Addressing a news conference, Head of Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms Salman Sufi said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has notified new rules for personal baggage limit of international travellers arriving in Pakistan under which their personal luggage would be duty-free.

Whereas, Pakistanis returning home within 30 days, 60 days and onward could carry duty-free baggage worth up to $400, $800 and $1200, respectively.

He said the luggage limit had always been remained ‘vague,’ but now Pakistan had introduced “the most liberal limit in the region” to facilitate passengers.

CPR initiative

Salman Sufi said a national initiative of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was being launched to impart first-aid training to citizens, enabling them to save precious lives in emergency.

He urged citizens to register themselves by calling on ‘1166’. They would be equipped with basic lifesaving skills at the public sector health facilities and Rescue 1122 Centres.

“They will be included in the PM’s life savers’ team,” he said, adding the prime minister would formally launch the initiative in a few weeks.

Fast Track accounts

Sharing details of some banking sector reforms, he said a portal launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) would facilitate banks for online opening of fast-track accounts of small and medium enterprises, without involving typical documentation work.

With this reform, he said the corporate account would be opened within 24-48 hours which was earlier taking at least 7-14 days.

Salman Sufi said digital freelancers involved in software export can open their bank accounts through their CNIC and the postal address mentioned on them would be considered their office address.

Bounced cheques

Sufu said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was introducing a comprehensive system in collaboration with other banks to effectively deal with the issue of bogus/bounced cheques.

There would be an online application of the SBP that would provide details of the account holder, if his/her cheques has ever bounced/dishonored or not. Terming it a ‘revolutionary’ measure, he said it would help prevent the parties from undue litigation.

Psychological help

Commenting on the measures taken in the social services, he said an online application was being launched within a month to provide assistance to citizens facing physiological issues due to any reason.

The service would be available free of cost, under which psychologists and experts would provide assistance and tools to the advice-seekers.

Violence against women

Among other initiatives, he said the government was launching dedicated centres to curb violence against women. These have already been launched in Multan and would soon be expanded to Sindh.

Salman Sufi thanked Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah for allocating funds in the next fiscal year’s budget for the purpose. The project would be inaugurated in Sindh on death anniversary Benazir Bhutto.

Women on wheels

He said the signature ‘Women on wheels’ scheme would be launched across the country for providing scooties to working female at subsidized rates, in addition to bike riding trainings.

Students and working women including female health workers and technicians, entrepreneurs and others would be the scheme’s beneficiaries, he said while citing mobility as the major issue which hampered a major segment of society to contribute in the national development.

Trans gender complaints

He said transgender was another major segment of the society but had been neglected for decades. A nationwide hotline was being launched in collaboration with the Human Rights Ministry to register and resolve their complaints in effective way.

Salman Sufi said the hotline would be connected with all provinces where a post of AIG Gender Crimes would be created.

The AIGs Gender Crime and IGs of all the provinces would personally monitor the transgender persons’ complaints and directly report to the PM office about the cases ratio and the steps taken for redressal of their grievances.

It would be a revolutionary step for the transgender community which faced multiple issues mainly related to violence, he added.

Animal welfare

Animal welfare was a major neglected area in the country and the existing animal welfare laws were been amended.

The main features includes disbanding of live testing of animals in any veterinary colleges, hotline to report cruelty with pets, fine and jail terms and regulation of pet markets.

He said a comprehensive animal welfare law would be tabled in the next session of Parliament to implement it at the national level. The provinces would also be requested to enact the law so that the issue would be resolved in an effective way.

Panic button

In the wake of an incident of assault in a train lately, he said the government was launching a “Safar Saheli” application before Eid-ul-Azha, which would have a panic button for the female passengers to press in case of any untoward incident.

He said every bogie of the train would have a contingent of female police which would respond to the situation swiftly.

Additionally, there would also be a SOS button in every train bogie which, on pressing, would stop the train and alert the female police staff for providing assistance.

He said another revolutionary step was being taken to connect the seat reservation system of railways with criminal database of provinces which would eventually flag such persons on reserving the seat.

Extra checking of persons with criminal record would be carried out before boarding and given a dedicated place in the train to keep them away from women and children.

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