Bold initiative: Police stations may get separate budget

In the coming fiscal it will become first province to give financial powers to SHOs

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is devolving financial powers in the Police department to police station levels aiming to achieve administrative autonomy in the police force in real terms.

In the coming fiscal year,2018-19, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will become the first province in the country to prepare budget at the police station level giving the financial powers of the police stations to its respective Station House Officer (SHO).

Sources close to the development told The Express Tribune that the K-P finance department has finalized its calculations and modalities to make separate budget for each police station in the province.



“We are fine tuning in our existing system and will be the first province in the country to give financial autonomy to our police stations,” said a senior official of the K-P government informed with the development.

The high-ups of the police who remain in tug of war with the bureaucracy resisted the move at first as the system takes financial powers from Inspector General of Police and transfer it to the SHO or other senior officers at police station level, said the official adding that later the police top officials after a few meetings with the K-P finance department accepted the system.

The officials explaining the system told that the police has around 290 police stations and each police station will have two Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) who will have the executive powers to sign the cheque to directly get money from the state bank of Pakistan through the accountant general of Pakistan.

“The operation and investigation wings of the police at each police station will have separate DDO and will have separate budget. Also we would provide each police station an accountant to look after the accounts as police lakes accounting know how,” said the official adding that the upcoming budget of police stations in the province has been prepared under the new system and quotations were asked from the police department for each police station.



“Another senior official said that roughly around Rs60 to Rs70 million will be directly transferred to the police stations which will make the financially autonomous,” he said adding that police station will not be dependent on the District Police Officer (DPO) or the Inspector general of police  (IGP) for its daily expenditures.

“The police officials of lower ranks would dance in joy if they start directly getting their budgets,” another senior official of the K-P government said. “The system would discourage uncalled for corruption in police which some of the honest police officers do, for example, getting fuels for their mobile vans from parties involved in a case as they can’t put fuel from their own pocket as the budget would not reach to the police stations.” The official added that the system would also end pick and choose or likes and dislike in distribution of the budget among the police stations at the top officials end.

The SHO will also have the powers to get back his police staffers working in other areas like performing duties with senior officials by holding their salaries as the financial powers of the police stations staff salaries would also be with the SHO or DDO, the official added.

“It is a streamlining of the system. If you are claiming of giving autonomy to the police force then you have to give financial autonomy it as administrative autonomy cannot be achieved without financial autonomy,” he said adding that the basic delivery unit in the country is police station which has to be empowered financially.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2018.