PESHAWAR: The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has issued additional guidelines to all the government departments regarding austerity in petroleum expenses, repair and maintenance of vehicles.
These guidelines have been issued with the approval of the Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in wake of the decision of 35% cut in the petroleum expenses of all departments in view of the recent increase in the petroleum prices in the country, said an official handout issued here on Saturday.
These additional guidelines have been issued as another important step under the provincial government’s austerity policy already in place. In this regard, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat has issued formal letters to the Chief Secretary and administrative heads of government departments for strict compliance of the guidelines at all levels.
According to the guidelines, all types of meetings/review meetings under the chairs of Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary and Inspector General Police which requires the presence of Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, RPOs and DPOs shall be convened through secure video links. Similarly, all types of internal/departmental meetings under the chairs of administrative secretaries which require the presence of District Officers is required, shall also be convened through video links.
Moreover, all types of meetings under the chairs of Commissioners and RPOs which requires the presence of DCs/ ACs, DPOs/DSPs shall be convened through video links. “Heads of all attached formations, autonomous/Semi autonomous bodies, development authorities etc shall also follow the same guidelines in letter and spirit,” the guidelines read. However, all operational duties, ambulatory services, field inspections, court hearings, inauguration/ground breaking events and other matter of exigencies are exempted from the guidelines.
It merits a mention here that as per the directives of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, the provincial government, under its austerity policy, has been taking a number of steps to curtail unnecessary expenditures.
These additional guidelines are continuation of those measures which apart from saving POL and other expenditures, will ensure full time presence of officers in the field to ensure better public service delivery.
In a statement issued here to this effect, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said that his government was fully committed to give maximum relief to the public adding that the unusual spike in petroleum prices is causing extra burden on provincial expenditures which need to be addressed through cut in POL expenditures and other such steps so that maximum share of the provincial exchequer could be spent on the welfare of general masses.
He has directed all the government departments to implement the government’s austerity policy in letter and spirit and to put in place effective mechanism of monitoring to ensure strict compliance of the decisions taken in this regard.
