January 31, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 21, 1429

PESHAWAR, Jan 30: The caretaker NWFP government has approved secretariat and utility allowances for officials working within the premises of the civil secretariat, officials told Dawn here on Wednesday.

The caretaker chief minister has approved a summary, containing proposals for a 20 per cent secretariat allowance and 10 per cent utility allowance for officials from grade 1 to grade 22.

A formal notification, they said, to this effect was expected shortly, whereas it will came into force with effect from July 1 as funds allocation for this purpose will be made in the next provincial budget. Secretariat allowance was abolished in 2002 by Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah-led provincial government when it put in place a policy of cutting down non-developmental expenditures.

As indicated from its nomenclature, this allowance was only admissible to government employees working inside the civil secretariat. This was considered as a monetary compensation for these officials for working comparatively in stressful environment. But, with the passage of time, this allowance was extended to other public sector entities outside the civil secretariat that increased the financial woes of the Frontier government, which greatly relays on external resources for meeting its recurrent expenditures.