Pakistan's Punjab bans treatment abroad, foreign visits at govt’s expense

The government of Punjab, Pakistan, has banned foreign visits and treatment abroad on state expenses by any minister,  Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) or official, the Dawn reports. It has also slapped ban on recruitment against vacant posts and upgrade of posts besides procurement of locally assembled and imported new vehicles out of the current and development budgets. The provincial government has directed all administrative secretaries, commissioners, deputy commissioners, heads of attached and autonomous bodies and other officials concerned to remain restricted to their budgetary allocations and observe utmost austerity in use of public money through prudent financial management. It instructed its officials to strictly curb the waste of resources and leakage of funds. The strict compliance of austerity measures will also be applicable on the local governments as well. Superseding the Sept 19, 2016, letter, the Punjab finance department has issued fresh austerity and economy measures for 2017-18 to observe financial discipline in the province by judiciously reducing expenditure but aligning with the organisational goals to make them target-based and cost-efficient. Aimed at effective and economic use of public money, the Punjab government has banned foreign air travel of ministers, MPAs and government officials through government funding. Similarly, no official or elected representative will be allowed treatment abroad at government’s expense during the current fiscal. Banning recruitment against vacant posts, the government has rested the power to recruit officials with the approval of the chief minister alone. The ban on upgrade of posts, however, will not be applicable to the powers delegated under the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2016. The Punjab government has directed the administrative departments to stay limited to their budgetary allocations to minimise the incidence of supplementary grants. In case of unavoidable circumstances, the department concerned would be required to seek approval of the provincial cabinet and the cabinet committee on finance and development.