Fulfilling a major austerity measure announced in the federal budget, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday approved rules for the compulsory monetisation of transport facility for civil servants in BPS-20 to 22 that will help save Rs 1.3 billion per annum.
A statement issued from the Prime Minister House said the policy was formulated in line with the cabinet decision in its meeting on June 3 2011. The application of the monetisation policy will be compulsory for all civil servants in BS-20 and above as per the approved parameters.
According to the proposed policy, there will be complete ban on the purchase of staff cars while no officer of BS-20 or above will be entitled and authorised to use project vehicles or the departmental general duty vehicles for any kind of duty. Services of the regular permanent driver will be offered to civil servants on optional basis on deduction of Rs 10,000 per month from the monetised value. There will be no new recruitment of drivers.
The Finance Ministry had submitted a proposal that all federal government officers in grade 20 to grade 22 would be offered financial compensation of Rs 55,000 to Rs 75,000 per month instead of government-maintained vehicles.
The proposal was referred to the Cabinet Division to draft policy and rules in this regard. At present 1,391 officers of the federal government are allowed chauffer-driven official cars. The government had initially planned to launch the scheme from August 01 2011.
PM approves trimming transport facility to bureaucrats
