Khidmat Markaz For Karachi: Will One Roof Be Enough?

Anyone who has dealt with a government office in Karachi knows how a simple errand can swallow a whole day. You take leave from work, cross the city, stand in a queue, and then learn that you need a paper from somewhere else. For a daily wage earner, that lost day is lost income. This is why the announcement of a Grand Khidmat Markaz in Karachi deserves attention.

On Tuesday, September 29, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced the plan during a visit to the Ministry of Interior’s office on I.I. Chundrigar Road. According to the ministry, it will be Pakistan’s largest public service centre, with counters for the departments and institutions working under the ministry. Citizens would be able to get passports, CNICs, arms licences and various no-objection certificates at one location. Naqvi has asked officials to prepare a master plan within 10 days, as The Express Tribune reported.

The idea is sound. Being sent from one office to another is one of the most frustrating parts of dealing with the state. But the announcement is only the beginning. The project is still at the planning stage, and it does not mean that every service will be available under one roof straight away.

A building full of counters will not fix much on its own. Most people are not bothered by how many offices there are. They are bothered by not knowing what to carry, where to go, how long it will take, or what happens if something goes wrong. Move the same procedures into a new building, and all that has changed is the address.

So the planning should begin with the questions citizens actually ask. What documents do I need? What is the official fee? How long will it take? Can I book an appointment? How do I track my application? Whom do I approach if it is rejected? A good centre should answer these before a person reaches the counter.

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Basic technology can do a lot here. Online appointments, token systems, SMS updates and clear information screens could cut waiting times. A simple checklist on the official website would save people from crossing Karachi only to find that one document is missing. None of this is complicated, and token systems are already common in banks and private offices.

For a city as vast as Karachi, effective public service delivery depends not only on having departments under one roof, but also on accessibility, public transport, clear signage, digital systems and facilities for elderly and disabled citizens.

Then there is the issue of transparency. The charge, the processing time, and the department handling the service must be made known to everyone. With people aware of what is the official price and the time period it takes for the official process, it becomes much more difficult for any additional charges and delays to pass unnoticed. An individual knowing that an application process takes five working days is not obliged to be asked to come back the following week.

The 10-day master plan is where this will first be tested. I would want it to say plainly which services will be at the centre from day one, which will follow later, and who is answerable when a counter is slow. Without that, “all services under one roof” remains a slogan. With it, people can hold the project to its own promise.

In the end, a service centre shows how ordinary people experience the state. They do not judge it by announcements. They judge it at the counter: whether the staff are trained and polite, whether the forms are easy to follow, and whether the work is done when they were told it would be.

The Grand Khidmat Markaz can set a better standard, and the 10-day deadline suggests that the government wants to move quickly. But speed in planning must be matched by care in delivery. Once the plan is ready, it should be published so that citizens and the media can see what was actually promised.

The measure of this project will not be the size of the building or the number of counters. It will be a simple question: When a citizen walks in, can they complete their work and go home without being sent to another office? If the answer is yes, Karachi will have gained something valuable. If not, the city will only have gained another address.

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The writer is a Mass Communication student at the University of Karachi.