March, 17 2005	Thursday	06 Safar 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, March 16: The government employees will be offered a lump sum in place of housing and transport allowance if the recommendations of the Pay and Pension Committee are accepted. The committee is in the process of finalizing its recommendations and will soon submit them to the government for approval. The committee chairman, Moeen Afzal, told reporters here on Wednesday that the suggestion of monetizing two facilities along with an increase in the salaries of government employees was designed to reduce burden on the government coffers.

He said the committee would also ask the government to limit the existing medical allowance for public sector employees.

“We are considering monetisation of housing and transportation facilities for public sector employees. The federal government should adopt this approach first and then provinces can replicate the idea,” he said.

He said the committee would hold its three-day meeting from March 17 to 19 and submit its report to the government later this month.

He said the public sector employees were getting about 40 per cent in terms of salaries and other benefits compared with their counterparts in the private sector. The misuse of transport and housing facilities by government employees was costing the government much more.

He said although it was not possible or advisable for the government to match the salaries and other monetary benefits of large multinationals like the Citibank, a parity could be developed with the local private sector.

“The objective is that the government employees should get about 80 per cent instead of current 40 per cent in comparison with the private sector people so that the bright and brilliant people stayed in the public sector jobs.”

Instead of spending huge sums on housing and transport facilities of government servants, the government should offer them lump sum in their salaries in lieu of these facilities so that they are at liberty to spend as they liked and remain within their limits, he said.

Moeen Afzal said the standard of public sector servants had started declining after 70s when there were 10 to 15 per cent in the category of excellent, around 75 per cent above average and only 5-10 per cent below average.

He said the gap in terms of salaries has widened by four times between employees of the public sector and those of the private sector “and brilliant people are not coming to join the government service”.

The government has been spending huge money from the national kitty for providing housing, transport and health facilities to the public sector employees and it wanted to curtail the expenditure.

The monetisation of employees’ facilities will reduce the burden on national kitty and provide incentives to people to join government jobs, he said.