Pakistan ready to take back plots, cut salaries of govt employees

The National Austerity Committee (NAC) of Pakistan has advised recovering plots from civil and military bureaucrats, judges, and other influential segments of society who have more than one.

The committee also recommended cutting salaries of parliamentarians by 15% and for government employees by 10% till 2024, top NAC officials told The International News.

Plots will be taken from those who bought more than one plot at a throwaway price and will be auctioned to repay the rising public debt.

The Austerity Committee also recommended the installation of pre-paid meters in gas and electricity sectors all over the country.

The NAC also employed Pakistan's Ministry of Finance to ascertain the financial impact of each recommendation.

Rough estimates show that if the recommendations are followed to the letter, it could save the Pakistani national exchequer resources ranging from Rs500 billion to Rs1,000 billion annually.

Much like Bangladesh Pakistan also recommended banning foreign visits unless absolutely necessary.

"The NAC recommended abolishing all discretionary schemes for parliamentarians. It is yet to see how Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government is going to approve these recommendations at a time when the government has jacked up the controversial Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Achievement Programme from Rs68 billion to Rs89 billion for the current fiscal year," reads The International News.

However, only recently the government increased SDGs Achievement Programme funding by Rs3 billion and it went up from Rs86 billion to Rs89 billion.

The NAC also gave a few more recommendations to save the government's money.

"As a technocrat, we have finalised major recommendations without consideration of any powerful segments as we proposed austerity for all segments of the society, including parliamentarians, civil and military bureaucrats, judges and any other influential group," one member of NAC told The News in background discussions held here on Wednesday. 

The NAC also considered that the committee report would be tabled before the federal cabinet to get approval from the highest decision-making forum in the country.

The NAC recommended abolishing all discretionary schemes for parliamentarians. 

The NAC recommended that the size of the federal cabinet should not exceed more than 30 members. In case of any compulsion, other members of the federal cabinet should be asked to work on a pro bono basis. 

The NAC also recommended abolishing discretionary funding for intelligence agencies. All allowances except part of salary should be abolished. The usage of petrol should be reduced by 30% at all levels. There should be a ban on purchasing new vehicles till June 2024. There should be a complete ban on luxury vehicles such as SUVs and others. The committee recommended e-government and online meetings instead of physical presence in official meetings.

The NAC proposed outsourcing of supply of goods, a complete ban on the creation of new administrative units in all tiers of government, with a mandatory shift to daylight savings time and drastic reductions in entitlements.

This scribe contacted one member of NAC for inquiring about the deadline for submission of the report to the PM. He replied that the NAC members have finalised their recommendations and now the writing of the report was underway.

"Probably, we will submit our report by today (Thursday)," he concluded.