ISLAMABAD: Cabinet Division has asked the secretaries as well as department heads to ensure that vehicles are only used for official purposes.
According to documents available with Pakistan Today, all secretaries and heads of departments are therefore requested to ensure the proper usage of official vehicles.
“As per the defined parameters of transport monetisation policy, its overall compliance is the responsibility of all secretaries as well as principal accounting officers, however, there is a perception that some officers who are drawing the monetisation allowances are misusing the official vehicles authorised for operation/general duties. Moreover, parking official vehicles on office premises upon completion of assigned duties/closing hours may be ensured through surprise checks,” the documents read.
“The above information may be transmitted to attached departments, subordinate offices, autonomous/semi-autonomous bodies cooperation under the administrative control of the ministry for similar action,” the documents added.
It is worth mentioning here that the basic objective of transport monetisation policy is to observe austerity and to eliminate the possibility of misuse of official vehicles. The incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had started the austerity drive after coming to power in order to control expenditures.
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance had issued an austerity circular and had asked the ministries to cut down their expenditure by 10 per cent and the government had also formed a four-member committee to minimise the expenditures. According to the documents, the Ministry of Finance will also inform the federal cabinet on Thursday about the expenditure control drive.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Cabinet Secretary Fazal Abbas Maken said that there is a perception that some officers who are drawing the monetisation allowance are misusing the official vehicles authorised for operation/general duties so that is why the circular has been issued.
It is worth mentioning here that the monetisation policy was introduced in 2012 and only BPS-20 to BPS-22 officers are eligible. A BPS-20 officer gets Rs65,960, BPS-21 Rs77,430 and BPS-22 Rs95,910 allowance per month.