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Bureaucrats removed: Govt pulls plug on lucrative postings at mega schemes
New guidelines to be implemented to save millions of taxpayer rupees.
New guidelines to be implemented to save millions of taxpayer rupees.
ISLAMABAD:
The government has withdrawn all civil servants serving as project directors of mega development schemes, due to massive mismanagement of public funds.
The decision to remove the bureaucrats was taken by the government nearly a year ago, but is being implemented now.
The move is expected to save millions of taxpayer rupees, otherwise being spent on expenses related to the managing of offices, vehicles and paying monthly salaries to these select bureaucrats.
Bureaucrats, who had been given this additional responsibility, had also been drawing multiple salaries from the government, securing privileged packages for themselves and extending their projects for personal benefits.
In some cases, bureaucrats who were also working under the federal department, while serving as project directors were given a hefty project allowance fixed according to their pay scale.
The misuse of taxpayer rupees was so visible that Punjab withdrew its bureaucrats from such projects back in 2011. However, the three other provinces were not ready to implement such austerity measures, mostly due to clout wielded by the provincial bureaucracy.
New guidelines
According to new guidelines issued by the finance ministry and the planning commission, if the cost of a project is more than Rs1 billion, an independent project director will be hired through a competitive hiring process, while bureaucrats will not be allowed to apply for such an opening.
On the other hand, if the cost of a project is less than Rs1 billion, the government will delegate the responsibility to civil servants.
However, they will not receive any of the benefits given to independent project directors, planning commission spokesperson Ishfaquallah Khan said. Khan went on to add that officials given the additional responsibility will receive a maximum allowance of Rs 6,000.
Earlier, a grade-20 officer was given Rs50,000 as project allowance, while a grade-21 officer was given Rs60,000 including a 1300cc vehicle for official use.
The project director is given the responsibility of project execution which includes managements of costs and meeting schedules. However, the office was being used as a tool to give additional benefits to blue-eyed bureaucrats, especially in capacity-building projects.
Interestingly, even though the government had abandoned Vision 2030 propagated by General Pervez Musharraf, the planning commission up till recently had a project director for the plan; costing hundreds of thousands rupees monthly.
The planning commission has been running 19 capacity-building projects, mostly to accommodate either serving or retired bureaucrats. It has now decided to shut down 15 projects, saving Rs24 billion on this account. The projects will be formally shut down on June 30.
“If an independent project director is required to be appointed for a project costing less than Rs1 billion, the case should be submitted for approval to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP),” said the new guidelines.
The decision was taken last May in a meeting of the executive committee of the National Economic Council, headed by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
The comprehensive rules also state that if retired officers are required as project directors, prior permission of the federal government will be sought. In the case of former civil servants, the permission will be authorised by the establishment division, while military officers will be given permission from the defence ministry.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2012.
Reader Comments (31)
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Better late than never!
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dair aiyaiy drust aiyaiy…..these bureaucrats have sucked this country, other day i was seeing two retired bureaucrats, Moin Afzal and Shahab Anwar Khawaja travelling on PIA in business class, which a hardworking honest businessman cannot afford at any stage of his life…
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They will find some other way of makin hay. Our bureaucrats are genious, unfortunately this genious is not for the betterment of the wretched people that they are supposed to serve.
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And then Pakistanis feel insulted when the world does not take them seriously!!! Pakistan is a running joke in world politics all because of antics going on. I have yet to discover a single decent and honest bureaucrat, politician or member of the establishment.
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Just when there is nothing left to loot anymore.
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This is a positive move. But I am wondering if this required by the IMF loan requirements?
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Too little too late. Unfortunately the country is bankrupt anyway…
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Very good step. I have seen some very good projects drifting due to personal greed of these bureaucrats
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It is proved beyond doubt..that all are corrupt, unpatriotic. dishonest with this country….blaming politicians only is not correct….we all are corrupt…not a single day passes when we do not look for short-cuts to any problem…..in this country.Recommend
Now that the elections are coming near the gov is taking cosmetic steps to portray itself as a responsible goc we all know the truth is otherwise. These people will be back in one form or another as long as they are PPP supporters. The gullible people of pakistan will vote for this gov again and it will be the same old story there is virtually no hope left.
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Get advice from imran khan and PPP will be fine
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Bureaucrats is a word made dirty by some black sheep in the flock. otherwise a bureaucrat is the finest officer and posses skills to lead any project. just look at the amount of money spent by the government and the number of courses and the training he has taken in his life. This seems to more like “we can not control control corruption so lets hide this fact by removing the finest officers in the country from the projects that will determine the fate our country so that my cousin or friend or brother can be the nest PD” i hope NEC get some sense and make its decisions sensibly.
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@nazar:
You have identified 2 bureaucrats living off ill-gotten gains, I can show you hundreds starting from DSP’s all the way up to retired grade 22 or should we say, project managers living on the fat of the land. Isn’t it sickening to compare our lot with David Cameron taking a train to go places instead of using RAF aircraft on stand-by. Its Pakistan Khappay all over.
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Our bureaucracy is a mess from selection process to retirement process…..nothing makes senseRecommend
all being done in the last year of PPP’s term to get votes?
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our country is being looted by educated and elders who are supposedly maintain/implemented rule of law.
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Amazing how times have changed. I was a Project Director for fifteen years as an additional charge. The car I was given was so rickety and dangerous that I never sat in it. It would bring my junior staff to office each day.
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When the government has zero credibility everything it does is suspect.
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I worked in a PMU at Punjab. It only worked bcz DCO was the Project Director otherwise it d have been really difficult for an Expert to get cases processed thru govt channels. He hardly have time for this project, there were many and to look after whole city matters, and we would meet him once in a month (after working hours) thus cases were delayed unless sth is required by CM. and believe me Rs 50,000 for BPS-20 DMG officer is nothing.
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@Baby ka Husband:
you are right, mine was just an example…why we forget their lifestyle…living in GOR 1, with dozens of servants and powerplay in the departments they command, each one of them is Akber in his or her own right..
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@usman786:
Yes indeed, as DMG BS 20 Bureaucrat lives in GOR 1 Lahore, a house worth more than 200000 rent per month, 50,000 is peanuts..no doubt..
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Who are they trying to fool???
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Excellent! Slowly the governance is being improved. Another thing needed to be done is monetising the residence perks. Bureaucrats are living free in residences sprawled over few acres of land. Before independence white officer used to live in those places.
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i know grade-17 officer who gets Rs 30,000 as project allowance in a government organization. and his job is to just arrange tea and biscuit.
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Great Initiative by PPP Govt. and we call them Corrupt, An eye opener for all of us, who without any proof become the part of this media-propaganda!
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People of Pakistan are responsible for the current status of country’s affairs. They only elect corrupt, self serving people to the assemblies and then cry foul.
They have to wake up and use their votes to elect clean, capable and country loving people to the assemblies, otherwise their fate will not change.
Remember Allah does not change the condition of a people unless people themselves try to change their fate.
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Re: Meekal Ahmed
Sir, times have, Indeed, changed. Cary Homs, a fairly well known family restaurant located on Beadon Road, Lahore, was started in the early 1950s by my late father Rao Muhammad Ali, an Aligrah educated lawyer. One evening he narrated an interesting story. Among those waiting in the queue to get in he spotted a man who seemed familiar so he rushed the manager to get him a table. The customer declined the offer, stating that it would be unfair to jump the line. This honourable man was Justice A R Cornelius.
Mir Taqi Mir summed it up well:
Iss ehad ko na jaaniye agla sa ehad Mir
Wo daur abb nahin wo zamin aasman nahin
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Rao Sb…well said…If justice Cornellius wud hv been alive today…he wud hv got same treatment like our present CJ is getting…morally, we hv stooped so low….this ust an eyewash…even today, transport monetisation is not being followed…& the best part…all are taking money but not surrendered govt transport…what wud you say ?Recommend
@Observer’s Eye:
Don’t go on thanking the PPP just yet. This step has clearly come out from the Finance Ministry that has been pushing for these kinds of sound governance measures for ages. Shaukat Tarin resigned over these same issues and the current Fin Min has been saying it for ages. My personal hunch is that the recent meetings with the World Bank and the IMF that Abdul Hafeez Sheikh had where Pakistan was promised some developmental funds had a lot to do with this decision.Recommend
Oh sure, this government is for austerity all of sudden, this boondoggle went on for 4 years to placate the bureaucracy so they will not point out the excesses this government is doing and not to speak of rampant corruption and nepotism by all involved in PPP led government. Now what, are they going to appoint PPP supporters for these jobs like they did to accommodate the corrupt lot by awarding them with ministeries.My advice to this corrupt so called democratic government is that go ahead loot as much you want because your days are numbered and there will be accountability and you people will have to come back from your posh residences in foreign lands.There will be no NROs again if the nation could help.
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@Meekal Ahmed:
Could not resist pointing out that the car was dangerous for you but not for the junior staff, something wrong there.
I realised what you have tried to say but it just come across wonky.
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