LAHORE: Research and training are immensely important for development and growth of any organization, so they must never be done away anyway. The customs service has been playing a vital role in collecting important revenues but the need of imparting training to customs officers has increased enormously because at present it is also being considered as an eminent law enforcing agency worldwide.
These views were expressed by Directorate General of Training and Research (Customs) Lahore Director Saima Shahzad in an exclusive interview to Customs Today here the other day.
Saima Shahzad, known as an outstanding, upright and devoted customs officer in the department, did her Masters in English in 1994 from Kinnaird College Lahore, qualified CSS in 1995 and joined Customs Group in 1996. She has worked at various collectorates/directorates in Pindi and Lahore. She has also worked in Sales Tax for five years. She has got numerous short-term and long-term trainings in the country as well as abroad. She was posted as Director, Directorate General of Training and Research (Customs) Lahore in October 2016.
During a recent interview, she remarked “training was her passion and that her team was totally committed to improving the training strategy and modules.”
The role of Customs Service is changing from being a strictly revenue collecting agency to a law enforcement agency therefore the need for imparting relevant training has now increased manifold.
Answering a question on new initiatives undertaken by the DGTR (Customs) Lahore, she informed Customs Today that 112 newly recruited sepoys from all the directorates and collectorates of the central region recently completed their physical two-month specialized academic training programme.
The training was arranged by the Directorate General of Training and Research (Customs) Lahore in collaboration with the Civil Defence Training School, she added, saying sepoys were taught customs bylaws, rules and procedures in addition to other relevant modules.
They were also trained for disaster management, bomb disposal and other safety and security techniques by the Civil Defence authorities, she shared, adding she was satisfied with the newly recruited sepoys’ training.
In addition to that, DGTR (Customs) Lahore regularly holds Mandatory Capacity Building Programmes for BS 107-20 officers of the Pakistan Customs, the director elaborated.
“Other multiple relevant trainings are being imparted to the customs workforce of BS 1-16. Under the external outreach programme, DGTR Customs regularly arranges relevant trainings for members of the business community like LCCI, SMEDA, American Business Forum, Pakistan Tanners Association, APTMA, PAAPAM and Pakistan Furniture Council, she informed.
DGTR (Customs) Lahore has also initiated a need based training programme through which trainings are arranged after taking into consideration the needs for the field formations according to which a crash course on investigation and prosecution was held at the DGTR (Customs) Lahore office which was greatly appreciated by the participants.
Madam Saima Shahzad, Director DGTR (Customs) Lahore, concluded the interview by saying that training and research are most important components of an organization which must not be ignored. She reiterated her resolve to make the DGTR (Customs) Lahore an effective and efficient regional office by imparting quality training to the customs workforce.
