ISLAMABAD: On Sunday, the federal government declared that it had assessed six federal ministries and their affiliated agencies for rightsizing in the “first phase” and that it had given “due weightage” to the recommendations made by economist Dr. Kaiser Bengali.
The government’s explanation was given to Cabinet Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in letters a day after Dr. Bengali announced his resignation from the government expenditure committee, the rightsizing committee, and the austerity committee.
Dr. Bengali expressed unhappiness with the administration’s approach to cutting spending, pointing out that the committees’ recommendations, which included eliminating 17 divisions and 50 departments, did not seem to be implemented by the government.
Six federal ministries were examined in the first phase, and the committee decided to wrap up one of them. The administration said that two other ministries were being combined in a similar manner.
asserts that following Dr. Kaiser’s resignation, posts in all grades were eliminated.
The economist charged that in an effort to save expenses, the government was defending the positions of higher-ranking officers while terminating lower-cadre workers.
He stated that the government could have saved Rs30 billion by doing away with officer posts, but instead chose to cut back on staff in Grades 1 through 16, which he claimed would have a negative impact on the economy.
On Sunday, however, the federal administration asserted that all postings, from Grade 1 to 22, were being rightsized, in addition to lower roles. It further stated that its rightsizing plan would eliminate two Grade 22 positions as well as numerous additional roles from Grades 17 to 21.
Dr. Bengali is expected to speak about the issue at a news conference in Karachi today (Monday).
According to the government, the rightsizing plan may result in the surplus of more than 60,000 government posts, including those held by people in grades 17 through 22.
