Precincts to get automated funds transfer, says finance secretary

Official explains police want budgetary allocation for each station made in next fiscal

PESHAWAR: Police stations across the province will now be directly connected to an online accounting and audit system as proposed by the police department.

This was explained by the provincial Finance Secretary Shakil Qadir Khan to The Express Tribune on Friday.

There was no resistance from within the police department [towards the system], Shakil said as he elaborated on the new system, adding that the new system was part of their ‘Rule of Law’ roadmap.

In a statement, the police department said that the basic idea behind the move was to financially empower police stations and to ensure that they receive their allocated funds in the most efficient and effective way. In this regard, both the Station House Officer (SHO) and investigation in-charge have been declared as ‘Drawing and Disbursing Officers’ (DDOs).

Hence, the police budget for the fiscal year 2018-19 keeps individual budgetary allocations for each police station.

“The finance department initially thought that the investigation should be kept centralized however, the police was adamant that they wanted complete devolution,” explained the finance secretary.

“There was no resistance, just reluctance at some places because this is unchartered territory. With the help of financial experts, even those systematic lacunae were resolved, said Shakil while further elaborating that the financial powers of the Inspector General of police and District Police Officers (DPOs) have not been reduced.

“The DPO has been relieved of clerical work while the burden from the IG has been considerably reduced.”

The police department, meanwhile, hopes that these steps will eliminate the excessively lengthy approval processes, red tape and make funds available at the right place — the most basic and local service delivery unit- the police station, and that too in time.

To ensure that these funds are not abused, the performance-monitoring system is also being strengthened to ensure that the respective DPOs and SP Investigations can efficiently and effectively monitor the utilisation of these funds and service delivery by these police stations.

“All of these steps will help further improve the provision of basic policing services to the citizens at the local level. It will moreover immensely enhance efficient and integrity at the local level in junior ranks of police, the police department’s statement concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2018.