A committee constituted to reduce the government’s expenditures recommended on Wednesday to close, merge, or hand over some government departments to provinces, introduce a contributory pension mechanism for newly-appointed employees, and abolish the vacancies lying vacant for over a year.

Headed by the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission and comprising federal Cabinet, Establishment, and Power secretaries, Dr Qaiser Bangali, Dr Farrukh Saleem and Muhammad Naveed Iftikhar, presented its preliminary report to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif containing its short and medium-term recommendations at a meeting held to discuss the reduction in government’s expenses and the size of its infrastructure.

The committee suggested engaging the private sector for service delivery in the government departments, besides banning unnecessary travel of government officials to reduce expenditures by promoting teleconferencing.

Moreover, the official vehicles should be withdrawn from the officers availing the monetization facility, it added.

Based on the said recommendations, the prime minister constituted a high-powered committee instructing it to furnish a comprehensive report within 10 days, considering the best global practices.

PM Shehbaz expressed the hope that the recommendations by the high-powered committee would help save billions of rupees for the national kitty.

Cabinet members Ahsan Iqbal, Ahad Khan Cheema, Muhammad Aurangzeb and Ali Pervaiz Malik, PM’s Coordinator Rana Ehsan Afzal and relevant senior officers attended the meeting.

Reporter Awais Kiyani