May 24, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11,1423

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LAHORE, May 23: Departments like the excise and taxation, and public health and engineering have been recommended to be merged in some other departments for rightsizing the provincial government in view of the transfer of its powers at district level.

The recommendations have been made by a high-level committee working on the subject under the additional chief secretary.

Official sources said on Thursday that a final round of meetings with all provincial government departments will start from May 27 in the light of the recommendations of the committee.

There are 34 provincial governments and initially 10 have been asked to meet the committee from May 27 to June 1 to discuss their amalgamation and restructuring.

They are planning and development, agriculture, excise and taxation, livestock, cooperatives, food, labour, auqaf, education and forests and wildlife.

According to sources, the committee has recommended the merger of public health engineering department into the local government department on the ground that all its functions had practically been transferred to the district governments.

Similarly, they said, the committee has recommended that the excise and taxation department be merged into the board of revenue because practically the latter was collecting all taxes for the former.

They said the committee has recommended that the environment related functions of the transport department should also be merged into the environmental protection department to eliminate duplicity of work.

Sources said there were chances of 50 per cent reduction in the strength of the education department. They said the health department had not so far sent any recommendations about its future shape but there were also chances of the reduction of its strength to a considerable extent.

The committee had started preparing its recommendations in March after almost all departments submitted their profiles before and after the devolution of power.

Sources said a reduction in at least 25 per cent staff of all government departments was the stated task of their trimming.

They said no policy has so far been formed to decide future of the staff to be rendered surplus as a result of the rightsizing.