Initial report to control govt expenses submitted to PM

Islamabad: The preliminary report regarding reducing government expenditure was submitted to the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today (Wednesday).

An important meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister regarding reducing the size of government expenses and structures. The committee formed to control the government expenditure submitted a preliminary report to the Prime Minister. The committee headed by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission included Cabinet, Finance, Establishment, Power Secretaries, Dr Qaiser Bengali, Dr Farrukh Saleem and Mohammad Naveed Iftikhar.

In the initial report, short-term and mid-term recommendations were made. The committee recommended closure of some government institutions, merger of several institutions and transfer of some institutions to provinces and recommended to save national money by eliminating all such posts which are vacant for more than one year.

In its report, the committee recommended introducing a contributory pension scheme for newly recruited government employees, hiring the private sector to provide services in government institutions, and reducing government expenditure, non-essential travel of government officials should be avoided and teleconferencing should be promoted.

The report said that the official vehicles should be immediately withdrawn from the officials who are availing the mono-tying facility.

On the other hand, with regard to the proposals, the Prime Minister formed a high-powered committee that will submit a comprehensive report within ten weeks. The Prime Minister directed that the committee should give concrete suggestions by benefiting from the best experiences of the international level, hoping that billions of rupees will be saved in the light of the recommendations of the high-powered committee.

Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervez Malik, Prime Minister's Coordinator Rana Ehsan Afzal and relevant senior government officials also participated in the meeting.