LAHORE - Punjab Chief Secretary Akbar Durrani has said the provincial government will implement Prime Minister Imran Khan’s agenda and policies and achieve the targets.
Talking to journalists here on Thursday, he said that education, health and rule of law were top priorities of the government. The Punjab government would start an anti-encroachments campaign across the province to vacate the state land. Discussing details of the campaign, the CS stated, first of all a timeframe would be given to all those who grabbed the state land and the an operation would be launched in Islamabad. He, however, said the government would proceed on the legal front as well and try to vacate the stay orders on state lands. He was of the view that courts should not maintain status quo without hearing the government on state lands. He confessed that thousands of acres of state land that include land of the forests department and auqaf department, had been occupied by the land mafia.
Moreover, he said the government would upgrade public sector schools on the pattern of the KP model so that not only commoners but also government servants feel proud to send their children there.
Talking about supremacy of law, CS Durrani laid stress on implementation of the Supreme Court judgement in the Anita Turab case. He said that not only tenure protection would be ensured but officers would be given fair opportunities to deliver and serve the masses. He said he believed in delegation of powers and this led to lowering 50 percent workload in his office. He said that he had already delegated his powers to divisional commissioners so that common people should not pay visits to Civil Secretariat.
Citing PM Imran Khan’s maiden interaction with the top bureaucracy, the CS said the premier had assured the bureaucracy of his support. However, he said that officers had been conveyed to follow the chain of command. He said this while responding to a query about the letter of two deputy commissioners to the Election Commission of Pakistan and other forums. He said that officers had been directed to face disciplinary proceeding on breaking chain of command.
To another query about interference of the NAB into administrative affairs, like arrest of former principal secretary to PM Fawad Hasan Fawad and former LDA DG Ahad Cheema, he said that departments failed to proceed against the officers who had been living beyond means and then the external agencies had to interfere. Had the department of anti-corruption worked, he says, other agencies would not have to do that. He pointed out every department’s additional secretary for establishment was an ex-officio director anti-corruption who could run proceeding on officers blamed of malafide practices.
Talking about the misuse of staff cars, Durrani said that officers would not be allowed to use more vehicles than their entitlement. He said that only the secretaries had been given an additional vehicle each for field visits. He said that use of official vehicles to send their children to schools was not allowed at all.
On retrieved luxury and bulletproof vehicles from public sector companies, he said, the committee constituted by the cabinet would decide their fate. However, he said the government had recommended that the vehicles should be kept in the pool for dignitaries’ use. He said that instead of auctioning off the vehicles it was proposed to repair and use them instead of purchasing new vehicles under austerity measures. On closure of companies, the CS said, as per the policy they could be rolled back but after their audit was completed.
He also said that the PTI leadership had directed them to complete first the ongoing projects. He said that there was a proposal that the retired civil servants be hired to promote education through think tanks, etc.