LAHORE - The Punjab government has abolished the Information Technology Department because of its failure in taking citizen centric and business-friendly initiatives, while the Punjab Information Technology Board has been directed to take over its functions, responsibilities and assets. According to a source, seeking strict anonymity, it has also been decided that the PITB would be run on corporate basis, and its chairman would be hired from the market, and he would be answerable to the Chief Minister Punjab. Chairman Planning and Development Board Sami Saeed has been given the responsibility of initiating the requisite process in consultation with the Services and General Administration Department. "It has been done overtly to remove anomalies resulting from the overlapping of the functions of the IT Department and the PITB," replied the source when quizzed about the reasons behind this step. He mentioned that at a high-level meeting the performance of the IT Department regarding the implementation of e-governance and contribution of the IT Department towards the economic growth was analysed, and the meeting members reached a unanimous conclusion that the efforts of the Department were not commensurate with the modern IT requirements. The meeting also showed its dissatisfaction over the efforts of the government as well. "Major policy initiatives of the government are neither people centric nor business-friendly. Resultantly, efficiency of the government departments and service delivery are seriously compromised," revealed the source. The meeting members also showed discontentment regarding the overlapping of the functions of the IT Department and the PITB. The meeting wanted that the Punjab government should act as a facilitator for the promotion of the IT in the province. "The members also considered strategies to promote use of the IT for better service delivery and transparency," added the source.