Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday stressed that in view of the larger national interests, all ministers and institutions should take all possible decisions and initiatives that could save each penny of the nation ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Aug, 2024) Muhammad on Tuesday stressed that in view of the larger national interests, ministers and institutions should take possible decisions and initiatives that could save each penny of the nation. He said that steps were being taken, on priority basis, to further improve governance and bring about institutional reforms in the country. “We are introducing digitization and smart management of institutions to modernize the country's system and harmonize it in accordance with the international requirements,” the expressed these views while chairing a meeting of the federal .
In the meeting, the federal strongly condemned the incidents in province on Monday and the cowardly attacks on unarmed civilians by terrorists. The prayed for the eternal peace of officers and personnel of the security forces and unarmed civilians who were martyred in these attacks, PM Office Wing said in a press release. It also directed for taking of complete action against terrorists involved in these incidents after their immediate identification.
The appreciated the decisions taken by the finance minister, minister for national security, minister for energy and other relevant ministers and officials for ensuring uninterrupted supply of urea fertilizer for the upcoming Rabi crop. An amount of 130 was saved in the national exchequer by halting the of urea and by ensuring uninterrupted supply to urea fertilizer units for the upcoming Rabi crop. On the recommendations of the Ministry of and Works, proposals were presented in the federal regarding the dissolution of Pak PWD, transfer of its staff and ongoing projects to other ministries and institutions.
The meeting was informed that on the directions of the , necessary maintenance staff and inquiries were being handed over to the concerned ministries and provincial governments to continue uninterrupted work on the ongoing development and PSDP projects tasked to PWD. In this regard, the federal approved the recommendations of the ministry of and works. The was presented with the recommendations of the Rightsizing of the Committee set up for Institutional Reforms, headed by the finance minister.
The was informed that in order to improve the performance of the federal , proper use of manpower, removal of unnecessary impediments in the policy-making and implementation of decisions, and to further strengthen the most important departments and bodies, the first phase of work on committee's recommendations about six ministries had already been initiated. The meeting was further informed that in the light of the recommendations of the committee, a total of 82 bodies related to these ministries were being merged and dissolved into 40 such institutions, in which digitization, smart management, efficient governance, transparent and speedy implementation of projects and better provision of facilities to the common would be ensured. The federal approved the recommendations of the committee and set up a committee to ensure the protection of the interests of the employees who were expected to be affected by the merger and dissolution of these entities.
The meeting was given a detailed briefing on the on the ongoing austerity drive and implementation of measures under the 's vision and directives to reduce expenditure. The federal nodded for the continuation of the austerity drive approved by the under the leadership of Muhammad during the previous tenure of his . These measures included voluntary non-withdrawal of salaries by the members, ban on purchase of other than essential such as ambulances, ban on purchase of new equipment and machinery, creation of new posts, non-essential foreign at the expenses and ban on treatment abroad.
“The country cannot afford that the bureaucracy and the elite enjoy luxuries at the expenses paid in taxes by the people. I will save every penny of the people till the last drop of my ,” the press release quoted the as saying. The also urged the ministers to ensure that austerity measures were being implemented in their relevant ministries and institutions.
He also lauded their efforts in ensuring implementation of austerity measures. The endorsed the decisions taken in the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee held on 22, 2024..
