Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has refused to inaugurate the ‘digital dashboard’ developed by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) attached department National Information Technology Board (NITB) to ensure transparency in flood relief assistance.
According to details, the premier, during a briefing on flood relief efforts, said, “What kind of dashboard is it? It is a joke?”
Expressing dissatisfaction over the dashboard, the prime minister said a real-time monitoring panel of international standards would ensure better coordination among institutions and enhance the country’s credibility.
He also instructed the NITB officials to add more features like weather alerts to make it a world-class platform containing all relevant information. “We should design a dashboard which the whole nation should be proud of,” the premier remarked.
He gave the example of the dashboard on the dengue outbreak developed by the Punjab government during his stint as Chief Minister, which he said got international recognition as it contained all the relevant information like hotspots.
The prime minister also pointed out the shortcomings in the design and called for further improvements to enable it to meet the nation’s needs and effectively reflect the coordinated efforts being made by the government for relief and rehabilitation of the flood-stricken people.
He said the dashboard must contain all the relevant information about every item, where the relief items like quilts and baby food were sent and where they came from.
He said the government would provide its support for the development of the dashboard which should not be a makeshift arrangement but rather a facility usable for decades.