Punjab CM Office Expenses Cut By 76pc: Fayyaz

Punjab Government Spokesperson and Provincial Minister for Prisons Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said on Wednesday that expenses of Chief Minister's Office had been reduced by 76 percent

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Sep, 2021 ) :Punjab Government Spokesperson and Provincial Minister for Prisons Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said on Wednesday that expenses of Chief Minister's Office had been reduced by 76 percent.

In a statement issued here, he said that in the previous tenure of 2017-18 (the last year of PML-N government), 173 vehicles were in use in the CM's Office whereas, the number of vehicles had been reduced to 110 during 2020-21 which includes vehicles used by officers and personnel of CM Secretariat.

In the previous regime 2017-18, Rs 42 million were spent on the maintenance of vehicles whereas expenditures in this head remained limited to only Rs 15 million during 2020-21. In 2017-18, 372,000 liters oil was used in the vehicles of CM office, while in 2020-21 only 228,000 liters oil was utilized.

During 2017-18, Rs 35 million were spent in the fuel head in the CM's office, whereas during 2020-21, despite the increase in petrol prices, only Rs 270 million were spent. The non-salary expenditure of the CM Office were Rs 240 million in 2017-18, whereas, on the instructions of the Punjab Chief Minister only Rs 140 million was spent in this head in 2020-21. Rs 90 million were spent in the head of entertainment and gifts in 2017-18, whereas, Rs 44 million were spent in 2020-21 under this head.

Similarly, in 2017-18, Rs 96 million were spent from the Chief Minister's discretionary funds in 2017-18 while only Rs 23 million were spent in the same head during 2020-21.

The Minister said that comparison analysis of these two years revealed that during the tenure of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar 64 percent expenditures in the vehicle maintenance head were saved, similarly, 39 percent amount as compared to previous tenures were saved in the head of fuel charges, 36 percent in the utilization of cars, 26 percent in the use of other fuels, 40 percent in non-salary expenditures, whereas expenses in the head of entertainment and gifts have been reduced by 50 percent.

As compared to Chief Minister's discretionary grant in 2020-21, the same is 76 percent less than the previous government in 2017-18.

The spokesperson maintained that transparency was the hallmark of PTI government and top priority gives to the same in CM Secretariat. There was no ambiguity about the fuel cost and funds but information on some certain issues could not be made public due to security reasons, he added.

Launching of austerity campaign, on the instructions of Chief Minister Punjab was being yielded positiveresults. The former process of lavish spending in the Chief Minister's Office has been ceased. One official residence adjacent to the Chief Minister's Office has also resulted in a significant reduction in expenditures,he added.