ISLAMABAD - Bureaucrats of BPS-20 and above are accused of pocketing billion of rupees as monetization allowance annually in addition to consuming billions or rupees on purchasing official fuel which is a clear violation of the monetization policy.
According to the documents available with The Nation, as many as 10 departments and ministries of federal government, in clear violation of the monetization rules and regulations, put an extra burden of five billion rupees on the national exchequer during the last couple of years.
The huge expenditure was incurred on purchasing fuel for official vehicles to be used for bureaucrats and other staff of ten ministries in clear violation of government’s monetization policy.
These ministries and departments included Cabinet Division, Ministry of Commerce and Textile, Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Postal Services, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Law Justice and Human Rights and National Assembly & Senate.
Despite the fact that government officers of grade 20 and above were barred from using official car and fuel following the imposition of monetization policy in January 2012, these ministries spent five billion rupees on fuel.
The shocking disclosure was made on Thursday by Accountant General of Pakistan (Revenue) Syed Gulzar Hasnain.
Through a written letter, his office sent to Secretary Cabinet Division, the Accountant General of Pakistan (Revenue) made it clear that the monetization policy was a complete failure as it has only put extra burden on the public exchequer.
Through a written letter (signed copy available with The Nation), he drew attention of the concerned authorities that officers of grade 20 and above were looting the public exchequer with both hands by misusing official vehicles and petrol.
After the implementation of monetization policy, the expenditure of public exchequer on POL and monetization allowance of these ten ministries has increased by 4.8 billion rupees in addition to the cost of maintenance and repair which may also be in million of rupees, the letter reveals.
The AGPR further said that core purpose of monetization policy was just to avoid misuse of government vehicles and reduction of POL price. However, the policy has failed to achieve the desired results, hence misuse of official vehicles be controlled, said the AGPR.
The AGPR recommended that all ministries/divisions and departments may be asked to work out their actual requirements of operational vehicles and remaining may be surrendered to the Cabinet Division. The AGPR said, further implementation of the policy may be ensured in letter and spirit and necessary steps may be taken to stop misuse of government vehicles.
According to the monetization policy, an officer of grade 22 is paid Rs98,000 per month, grade 21 officer gets Rs78,000 and grade 20 officer is paid Rs68,000 inclusive of Rs10,000 driver salary. The policy was devised to avoid misuse of official vehicles and reduce expenditure incurring on POL.
In addition to getting huge sums monthly, well-maintained cars of 2006 model were sold to top bureaucrats at throwaway prices ranging from Rs200,000 to Rs256,000. However, the greedy bureaucrats parked their cars at their residences and are once again using official cars running on official petrol.
According to the documents, the Cabinet Secretariat spent 103,985,068 rupees in FY 2010-2011 and 242,439,596 rupees in FY 2011-2012. After the imposition of monetization policy, the Cabinet Davison spent 179,747,124 rupees on POL in FY 2012-13 and 312,453,399 rupees.
Meanwhile, bureaucrats working in the Cabinet Secretariat pocketed 233,992,899 rupees as monetization allowance w.e.f 01-01-2012 to 30.06.2014. It resulted into excessive increase in government exchequer to the level of 379,786,758 rupees.
The Cabinet Secretariat is not alone in causing excessive increase in annual bills incurring on POL. Rather, Ministry of Commerce and Textile, Ministry of Communication, Ministry of defense, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Postal Services, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Law Justice and Human Rights and National Assembly & Senate caused excessive increase in government exchequer by spending 4.8 billion rupees on POL during last couple of years.
Shockingly, the bureaucrats, working in these ministries, departments and divisions were given Rs 1.1 billion in the name of monetization allowance.
“The expenditure on POL should have been reduced following the imposition of monetization policy. And this was the core purpose of this policy. They are using new official cars and spending billions from national kitty on POL, which is a classic example of robbery,” a higher government official said on condition of anonymity.