Punjab Chief Minister or his deputy and son may be flying high with their new chopper and two luxury cars worth crores of rupees! But, as far as ground realities are concerned, the government seems to have woken up from slumber.
It has finally decided to cut down on wasteful expenditure in various departments of the State Government.
For the purpose, the State Government has notified a committee under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh. The committee would work to reduce expenditure, especially the non-plan expenditures of various departments and bring more transparency in financial work of the departments.
The committee would look into the expenditure incurred by various departments of the State Government, especially on the non-plan side, for the last five years.
The Chief Secretary is the chairperson of the committee and vice-chairman of the Punjab State Planning Board has been included as special invitee.
In addition, Principal Secretary, Finance, Secretary, Planning and Special Secretary to Chief Minister of Punjab, Gagandeep Singh Brar have been included as members and Secretary, Expenditure as a convener of the committee.
The committee has also been mandated to invite any other administrative secretary or officer to the meeting as per its requirements.
The State Government’s move is in sharp contrast with its decision to place an order for a new fixed wing craft for the exclusive use of the VVIPs, which has been postponed for the time being.
In complete variance with its act of preaching non-indulgence, the Punjab Government has also spent tax payers’ precious money on buying a new helicopter for exclusive use of the Badals and two BMWs worth `2.45 crore each for father-son duo, renovating offices of some of its ministers, buying new SUVs for its Cabinet-rank office-bearers, among other things.
Already on the austerity drive since the start of its second innings in the State, the SAD-BJP Government had imposed ban on the purchase of new vehicles, announced 10 per cent cut on the allowances of the Ministers and chief parliamentary secretaries, cut on fuel and electricity charges — all amounting to an annual saving of `250 crore.
Besides, the Government had also decided to print all its ordinary and extraordinary gazette notifications in its own printing press at Mohali — a move that will save `1 crore annually.
In the past, the Punjab government has also asked all its departments to “restrict” spending on power and water within the allocated budget.