PM Orders E-Office Compliance Review as Ministries Resist Digital Rollout

Islamabad: The federal government’s transition to a digital e-office system faces hurdles as several ministries and divisions remain slow to implement the initiative. Despite repeated instructions from the Prime Minister(PM), little progress has been made, prompting a renewed call for the elimination of outdated physical correspondence in favor of a fully digital workflow to improve transparency and efficiency.

The E-Office system, created by the National Information Technology Board (NITB), is said to be facing a variety of technical challenges that have hindered the daily communications and responsibilities of government officials and civil servants.

Despite the Prime Minister’s directive to transition to a paperless workflow, it appears that numerous federal ministries and departments remain largely indifferent to embracing the e-office system, opting instead to persist with conventional paperwork practices. The system is encountering considerable technical challenges, particularly related to hosting and capacity constraints.

Over a hundred officers face challenges logging in at the same time, and if a quarter of them attempt to access the system concurrently, they find themselves automatically logged out in just two minutes. Moreover, ongoing interruptions last multiple hours are leading to additional disturbances. The PM has emphasized the need to eliminate traditional physical correspondence and transition entirely to digital platform.

The Prime Minister’s Office has issued a directive to all ministries and divisions, emphasizing the importance of employing electronic office systems for all official communications. The directive elaborates on the procedure for resubmitting correspondence that was once handled through physical documents, which will now transition to the e-office system.

Furthermore, the IT Ministry along with the NITB has been assigned the responsibility of compiling a comprehensive report regarding the status of e-office implementation. The analysis, featuring detailed figures, will evaluate the effectiveness of the system’s integration throughout various ministries and divisions.