Rotation policy: 90 Punjab DMG officers to be sent to Balochistan

Lahore DCO Noorul Amin Mengal among Balochistan domicile officers to be sent home.

LAHORE:

More than half the District Management Group (DMG) officers serving in the Punjab are to be transferred to Balochistan under a new rotation policy issued by the federal government, The Express Tribune has learnt.

An Establishment Division official said that Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had approved the policy and it had been issued last Saturday. He said that lists of the DMG, now known as the Pakistan Administrative Service, and the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers in the province who would be subject to the new policy would be prepared.

The official said that the federal government’s aim with the policy was to end the shortage of qualified officers in the province. He said that the policy would affect Punjab domicile officers who had not served in Balochistan or not completed their mandatory tenure in the province, as well as Balochistan domicile officers who had been serving in the Punjab for more than three years.

The official said that the new policy would promote national cohesion and help remove anti-Punjab sentiment in Balochistan. He said that Balochistan domicile officers would be shifted “immediately”.

A Punjab government official said that Dawood Bareach, the special health secretary, Lahore District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal and Waqas Alam, additional secretary for Mines and Minerals, were Balochistan domicile officers who would be affected by the policy. None of them have been transferred yet.

The Establishment Division official said that Punjab domicile officers who had not served outside the province would be shifted to Balochistan before Punjab domicile officers who had served some time outside the province but not completed their tenures.

Of the 170 DMG officers serving in the Punjab, around 90 have not served in other provinces or have not completed their mandatory stay in other provinces, an official told The Express Tribune. Most of the Punjab domicile officers have not served outside the province, he said. These officers include 35 in BS-18, 67 in BS-19 and 68 in BS-20. They are serving as administrative secretaries, divisional commissioners, special secretaries, district coordination officers, director generals in various authorities, and additional secretaries and staff officers to the chief minister. Under the new policy, these mid-career officers would be shifted to Balochistan in phases.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2012.