KP govt to finalise monetisation of perks of civil servants today

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, apparently on the directives of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, is going to finalise today its ambitious policy to monetise the perks and privileges of the civil servants.
However, the provincial government is still facing tough resistance from the bureaucracy that has been opposing the policy throughout the current financial year, an official told The News.“The monetisation committee is likely to finalise the policy in its meeting today and a summary will subsequently be submitted to the chief minister to approve the operationalisation and implementation of the committee’s decision,” the official added.
He said mismanagement and misuse of vehicles in the transport wing of the Administration Department, other attached departments, directorates and project units necessitated the early finalisation and implementation of the monetisation policy.
He said around 11 administrative secretaries and officials were still retaining 70 official vehicles. He said one of these secretaries, who until recently held the additional charge of Administration Department, has alone retained eight vehicles.
The official said three official vehicles have gone missing in the recent months and usual “eyewash” inquiries were also conducted but responsibility could not be fixed on any of the authorised officials.The matter was swept under the carpet and a loss of around five million rupees was caused to the public exchequer, he added.
Taking notice of the delay in the adoption of the policy, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Tuesday directed Finance Minister Muzaffar Said to take final decision on the monetisation of the perks and privileges of the civil servants at today’s meeting.
Imran Khan has already tweeted and posted on his official Facebook wall that they are going to adopt it (monetisation policy), the official added.The same official said the committee has held six meetings so far and in its last meeting on March 19 it reviewed the draft policy but could not take any decision on its implementation.
He said that over the last one year or so it has been observed that official members of the committee, including Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), secretaries Law, Finance, Communication and Works (C&W) and Senior Member Board of Revenue, and even Education Minister Muhammad Atif Khan, Minister Public Health and Engineering (PHE) Shah Farman and Minister Health Shahram Khan Tarakai turned up at only one meeting of the committee.
“However, the ministers and the private member Dr Ihsan have confirmed to attend today’s meeting and take final decision on the monetisation of the perks and privileges of the civil servants,” the official said.
According to the draft monetisation policy (copy available with The News) and in case it is adopted, complete ban will be imposed on the purchase of vehicles and only a specific number of pool vehicles will be maintained for the development projects.
The pool vehicles will not be parked under any circumstances outside the premises of the department or directorate when not in official use.
The monetisation of the transport facility will be compulsory for all civil servants in BS-17 to 22 and only those public office-holders and officers in BS-19 to 22 will be offered vehicles at the depreciated cost whose minimum length of service has remained for at least three years. If any of them express unwillingness to purchase the vehicle, it will be retained by the Administration Department for further utilisation or disposal through an open auction.
On the basis of the expenditure being incurred on the provision and maintenance of the official transport allocated to the civil servants, a BS-22 officer will get Rs63,440 as monetised value of transport facility and driver allowance in monthly salary, a BS-21 officer will get Rs56,33, BS-20 will avail Rs50,800, BS-19 will be offered Rs45,270 while BS-18 and 17 officers will get Rs20,000 and Rs15,000 respectively.
The public office-holders such as senior ministers will get Rs98,200, ministers, advisors and special assistants will receive Rs82,400 and parliamentary secretaries will avail monthly monetised value of transport facility and driver allowance of Rs66,600.