Category: Technology

Lahore, February 28, 2018 (PPI-OT): Addressing the launch of eKhidmat mobile iPhone/ Android mobile application to avoid long queues and wait, Dr. Umar Saif Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) said that Punjab IT Board in collaboration with the Government of Punjab has established 8 th mega state of the art modern e-Khidmat Maraakaz at Lahore the largest in the Punjab to facilitate the general public by providing more than 17 Governmental district, provincial and federal services under one roof, which would start its routine function from Friday March 2, 2018 while formal inauguration will be performed by the Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

He further said that more than 1700,000 citizens have so far visited such centers functioning at Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sahiwal and Bahawalpur and 772,437 services have been provided to the citizens. The Punjab Government would establish 37 similar centers across the province and in future with the participation of private sector on franchise model their area of activity would be expand to tehsil level of the Punjab, he added.

Explaining the salient features of the eKhidmat mobile app, Dr. Umar Saif said that the users of smart phones and internet could easily download the app for all the different platforms such as android, windows, blackberry and iOS to register themselves and to select the required service and fix time of appointment while sitting at home 24/7 to avoid the queues or wait without involving any agent’s mal practices, to get the services within stipulated time which were being designed to monitor at 13 stages from filing of application to the final execution of the service to ensure timely performance.

E-Khidmat Markaz also known as Citizen Facilitation and Service Centers (CFSC), is the flagship project of Punjab information Technology Board (PITB) to avail government services in a cost effective manner for both the service provider and customers, offering a total of 17 unmatched government services under one roof such as Issuance of Learner Driving License, Domicile, Character Certificates, Traffic Fine Collection, NADRA, e-Sahulat, Vehicle Transfer of Ownership, Token Tax Payment, New Vehicle Registration, Marriage, Birth, Divorce, Death Certificate, Banking Services, Pakistan Post Office services, e-Stamp Issuance and Issuance of Route Permit.

For more information, contact:
Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
11th Floor, Arfa Software Technology Park,
346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35880062
Fax: +92-42-99232123
Email: info@pitb.gov.pk
Website: www.pitb.gov.pk

Lahore, February 27, 2018 (PPI-OT): The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)’s School Information System (SIS) being one of the largest school information management system in the world has enrolled 11.4 million (11,457,895) students. This was informed in a progress review meeting presided over by Dr. Umar Saif Chairman PITB here today. Addressing the meeting Dr. Umar Saif said that enrollment system would be beneficial to report daily attendance of students and teachers of each school on computer tablets in real time to monitor the educational activities in the schools.

Every student was now individually tracked through SIS, which would be equally helpful for the parents and guardians to know the presence and progress of their ward in school, he said. The meeting was informed that out of 48,153 active schools 48,105 schools were utilizing SIS while 352, 060 teachers have been registered in 46,575 schools of the Punjab.

A number of 46,414 schools have been equipped with tablets and 39,887 support staff of 11,809 schools in the Punjab province were registered, it was briefed. The web-based online system has resulted into an automated solution to eliminate the ghost teachers and schools from the province of the Punjab and to focus on the educational progress to deal with the promotion of literacy in the Punjab.

For more information, contact:
Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
11th Floor, Arfa Software Technology Park,
346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35880062
Fax: +92-42-99232123
Email: info@pitb.gov.pk
Website: www.pitb.gov.pk

Lahore, February 22, 2018 (PPI-OT): The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) has developed a mobile application for Punjab Police through which access to the datasets is provided to authorize police officers in real time. An android application, “Toolkit”, is developed and officers have been trained for the use of the application. Police officers using this application can now access all police-related data through this system.

At the backend of the application, a log of each activity in the system is being maintained and requests of every user can be monitored. The monitoring in-charge can see how many vehicles were checked by a particular officer. Daily performance can be monitored and high achievers can also be tracked using the dashboard, incentivizing good work.

This project has benefited investigation officers immensely. They can access required information within seconds rather than commuting to a certain office to get the information. The application has aided arrests of suspicious persons and recovery of stolen vehicles. Another feature of the application is that it is connected to an integrated database, connecting all 36 districts of the Punjab Province. The Punjab Police is a large workforce and most of the field officers require access to various datasets for cases under investigation.

For more information, contact:
Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
11th Floor, Arfa Software Technology Park,
346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35880062
Fax: +92-42-99232123
Email: info@pitb.gov.pk
Website: www.pitb.gov.pk

Lahore, February 20, 2018 (PPI-OT): The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)’s project in collaboration with the Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) is satisfactorily redressing the overseas Pakistanis complaints being faced by them in various inland departments through an online complaint portal developed for effective communication in the shortest time. Dr. Umar Saif Chairman PITB said while chairing a progress review meeting here today. The meeting was informed that so far a number of 7,814 complaints have been received and among them 3,579 have been resolved while remaining were under process and 132 have been rejected.

The setting up the online portal has decreased workload and made the complaints tracking process easier, which was facilitating the labor force in the middle-east countries who couldn’t access the online portal, by enabling them to call the helpline +92 42-111-672-672, which runs parallel to the Overseas Complaint Portal. The OPC call representative enters all the information into the system on behalf of a user, briefed the meeting.

The meeting was informed that during the last two weeks Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) Punjab retrieved 17 Properties of expatriate Pakistanis, worth Rs.93.3 Million from the illegal occupants in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Narowal, Pakpattan, Jhelum, Sahiwal, Okara, Toba Tek Singh Mandi Baha Ud Din and Jhang Districts. An expatriate Pakistani Muhammad Shoaib, settled in UK succeeded in getting back his 142 million rupees in response to his complaint that he paid Rs 142 million in 2015 to a party for the sake of investment and according to the agreement the other party was supposed to pay profit but it had failed to do so for last three consecutive years.

The online web based portal allows overseas residents to lodge their complaints without having to make frequent visits to Pakistan. All they have to do is sign up on the website and enter the complaints regarding matters such as family disputes, property disputes, travel agents and airline related issues, criminal cases, financial disputes, issues related to cooperative society claim, etc. It also includes lodging a complaint for problems related to utilities i.e. water connection problems, telephone bills, electricity bills or sui-gas connection problems etc.

The applicants can also have follow-ups on their complaints through OPC helpline or via directly commenting on their complaints. It has improved the overall efficiency to manage complaints efficiently. Using the previous manual system, the commission also did not have these comprehensive statistics. Previously overseas Pakistanis had been facing various problems in communicating their issues to relevant authorities in their home country and required an efficient and accessible platform for this purpose. Similarly, there was no proper mechanism available with the authorities to track the complaints lodge by overseas Pakistanis.

For more information, contact:
Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
11th Floor, Arfa Software Technology Park,
346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35880062
Fax: +92-42-99232123
Email: info@pitb.gov.pk
Website: www.pitb.gov.pk

Lahore, February 18, 2018 (PPI-OT): Pakistan Cricket enters into a new era of using technology with the Information Technology University (ITU)’s cricket analytics platform being rolled out with the Pakistan Cricket Board to cover PSL, which will allow analysis of each player, aids with selection and enables scientific coaching. Dr. Umar Saif founding Vice Chancellor Information Technology University of the Punjab said after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Najam Aziz Sethi Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) at Qaddafi Stadium here today.

Dr. Umar Saif further said, “We have been silently working with PCB on this project since May 2017. This is totally unprecedented in cricket world that performance of cricket players is being digitally measured from the grass-root level. This will change the map of the Pakistan cricket for the better and help selectors, coaches, and fitness gurus make better qualitative decisions for our cricket team.

The VC ITU expressed special thanks to Inzamam ul Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed who approached with this idea and provided constant guidance during the development of Insights. Credit also goes to my friend Mr. Najam Aziz Sethi for his resolve to take Pakistan cricket to new heights with his untiring efforts and openness to innovation and technology.” Najam Aziz Sethi, PCB Chairman said, “This is something that I wanted from the day one of my tenure and I am glad that we have finally made it happen for Pakistan cricket. I can see it play a vital role in the growth and development of cricket in Pakistan.”

Inzamam ul Haq, a cricket legend and the chief selector of Pakistan cricket team, said, “Mushy and I wanted to leave a legacy behind. A system that can serve Pakistan cricket for years to come. Insight is the true implementation of our ideas and expertise. This can give you deeper insights into players’ performances especially in situations where no high resolution camera’s and hawk eye is available. I am thankful to Mr. Najam Sethi, PCB coaches, analysts and administration, Dr. Umar Saif project lead Talha Rehmani, and ITU team for their endless support.”

Talha Rehmani, Project lead Insights, said, “Insights comes from the merger of state-of-the- art technology and cricket expertise. We have a long way to go but Insights will change the way we interpret and approach players’ performances for better. It will also help our coaches and fitness trainers to customize the players’ routines and exercises and focus on relevant areas.”

Insights – a unique match analysis and scoring facility developed by ITU for upcoming edition of Pakistan Super League and domestic matches in Pakistan including Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Pakistan Cup, etc. Detailed evaluation sessions were conducted with these mentors and PCB support staff such as analysts, scorers, trainers and other coaches.

The data collected, both of matches and individuals will help to draw both concrete and soft analytical results to track the performance of a player from grass root level to the top, identify weak and strong areas for batters, identify the trends and factors affecting the bowling performance of every individual bowler, work on the improvements of his flaws and team selection. E.g. if the system identifies that a player is good against spin, he can be selected to play in spin friendly conditions. On the flip side, if a player is found weak against spin, remedy work can be started.

Insights will be used in the upcoming edition of PSL 3. In the past, this platform is already used to collect data and draw results on various cricket games, including independence cup and some other domestic tournaments. The system can be used simultaneously by two users for entering the details of a same match to cover it with greater precision, i.e. a scorer can add scores whereas an analyst can add pitch and field information etc. User can also enter in details happenings of every delivery e.g. if a four was hit, user can select, from a prepopulated list, the shot name, if the players timed it or it was a mishit. Similarly, the details of a batter’s dismissal, a run, a dot, or a six, all different types of scoring events can be recorded just in few clicks.

Insights is an expert player profiling system developed by research team 0f ITU for PCB. The system contains a parallel scoring application, both on web and android, where the scores for the matches with the minutest details are entered using just an android tablet which makes it very cost effective. The scorer can enter lots of additional information alongside scores like field placement, pitch and weather information, ball pitch spot, swing and height estimation and toss information.

For more information, contact:
Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
11th Floor, Arfa Software Technology Park,
346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35880062
Fax: +92-42-99232123
Email: info@pitb.gov.pk
Website: www.pitb.gov.pk

Lahore, February 14, 2018 (PPI-OT): Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and Board of Revenue’s Joint flagship eStamping project has touched all time high figure of Rs. 60 billion i.e. Rs. 60,519, 903,846/= till today, which is an unprecedented contribution towards the national economy through automation of the process. Dr. Umar Saif founding Vice Chancellor of Information Technology University and Chairman PITB said while reviewing the performance of eStamping project here today. Total e-Stamp papers (Judicial – non judicial) that have been issued through this system are 23, 32,545 out of which 21, 45,384 are non-judicial and 1, 87,161 are judicial eStamp papers.

Dr. Umar Saif, said that the project which has replaced 117 years old Stamp paper system introduced in 1899 in the Sub Continent during the British colonial rule and brought historic change through technology in the province of the Punjab by ensuring transparency and raised record proceeds through a citizen friendly system and eliminating the fiscal drainage and malpractices of the past. The outstanding achievement of this project was a proof of trust and confidence reposed by the people through acceptance of the automated service, equally beneficial for the masses, the government and the country at large, he added.

He directed the PITB officials to speed up the process to ensure timely launch of eStamp papers less than worth of Rs. 1000/-, which in volume stands to 5 % of the whole activity. PITB’s e-Stamping team has conducting refresher trainings for Sub Registrars and Revenue Officials in all over the Punjab with an aim to tackle counterfeiting and verification of duties using e-Stamping System, the meeting was informed. eStamping system has saved the common citizen from fraud, forgery, agent mafia, long queues in the treasury office and the banks as the duration of receiving Stamp papers has been reduced from three days to fifteen minutes, which is now operative in the 36 districts and 144 tehsils of the Punjab Province.

For more information, contact:
Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
11th Floor, Arfa Software Technology Park,
346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35880062
Fax: +92-42-99232123
Email: info@pitb.gov.pk
Website: www.pitb.gov.pk