Public expenditure: Punjab issues new austerity measures

Restrictions on foreign visits, purchases and official events introduced.

LAHORE:

The Punjab government has issued a new austerity policy for this financial year restricting visits abroad at public expense, the purchase of expensive equipment like cars, and the holding of official events at hotels.

The new guidelines have been sent to all departments, divisional commissioners, district coordination officers, the Lahore High Court registrar and the inspector general of police. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif can allow exceptions to these guidelines, while an austerity committee headed by the finance minister can consider requests for exceptions that fall below a certain minimum cost, an official told The Express Tribune.

Among the guidelines is a ban on trips abroad at government expense by ministers, MPAs or government officers. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif can allow exceptions. But ministers allowed to travel outside the country would have to fly in a class one level below their entitlement, while parliamentarians or officers travelling domestically must do so in economy class.

The purchase of new and imported vehicles from the current and development budgets has been banned, though it can be bypassed with the approval of the austerity committee and then the chief minister. The purchase of ambulances and buses for schools and colleges does not need to be referred to the committee, but does require the chief minister’s approval through the administrative department concerned.

All departments have been directed not to seek supplementary grants, but any request exceeding Rs3 million would require the chief minister’s approval. They have also been told to prepare conservation plans for electricity, gas and phone use, and warned that officials must not exceed the petroleum allowance for official vehicles.

The policy bans official functions at hotels, unless one is deemed necessary by the chief minister for state delegations. Only tea with biscuits may be served in official meetings.

The refurbishment or interior decoration of offices, establishment of offices, purchase of furniture and fixtures, and procurement of machinery and equipment has also been frozen, but this does not include the purchase of medical equipment by the Health Department and allied institutions. School councils may approve the purchase of furniture for schools worth up to Rs500,000.

No staff may be appointed for contingencies without the prior approval of the Finance Department.

The new austerity guidelines call for reduction in spending on publicity and advertisements by “avoiding unnecessary advertisement and rationalisation of the size and frequency of the essential advertisements”.

The Punjab government has already spent millions of rupees on advertising the Yellow Cab Scheme and other plans this financial year.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2011.