LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to abolish 550 posts in various departments as it seeks to control spending. The move will save the government Rs6.1 billion per year, bringing non-development spending down by 10 per cent, said Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, senior adviser to the chief minister, at a press conference on Sunday.
The civil servants whose posts are abolished will be sent to the surplus pool and be gradually accommodated in various departments. The savings will be spent on social development and welfare, Khosa said.
Khosa said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had approved the recommendations of a committee, chaired by the chief secretary, set up to consider ways to cut spending. He outlined the following recommendations made by the committee.
The Chief Minister’s Inspection Team will be reorganised and two of the eight members will go, but the number of technical members will be increased.
One post of member (BS-20) and one of joint chief economist (BS-20) in the Planning and Development Department will be abolished.
The posts of divisional commissioners at city districts will remain intact in BS-21, while the posts of divisional commissioners at Sargodha, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and DG Khan will be downgraded to BS-20. All posts of DCOs will be placed in BS-20. No post of DCO will be in BS-21.
Seven posts of special secretaries will be abolished, though they will remain in the Finance, Home, Health and Local Government and Community Development departments.
Twenty employees in the surplus pool of the Service and General Administration Department will be sent back to their departments for adjustment.
At least half of the 58 officers working in Punjab on deputation who are not with the All Pakistan Unified Groups (APUG) will be repatriated to their parent departments in the federal government, making room for provincial civil servants.
The Social Welfare Department, the Women’s Development and Baitul Maal, Zakat and Ushr Department and the Child Protection Bureau of the Home Department will be merged to form the Social Protection and Zakat Department.
A total of 234 executive district officer (EDO) posts in the districts will be abolished.
The government will make amendments to the Local Government Ordinance to remove revenue administration from the local government system.
Three additional inspector general posts in BS-21, nine deputy IG posts in BS-20, one senior superintendent of police (surveys) post in the Special Branch in BS-10, seven superintendent of police posts in BS-19, and 69 deputy SP posts in BS-17 will also be abolished.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2011.
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