LAHORE – The Punjab government on Wednesday decided to purchase 70 new vehicles for lawmakers, who refused to take old cars provided by the provincial administration.
Upon the refusal to take old cars for they don’t function properly, the Services and General Administration Department has prepared a procurement summary to proceed with the matter, which shall be forwarded to the austerity committee.
The new cars will be issued after approval from the Finance Committee.
The move appeared at a time when the government was focusing on austerity measures, curtailing unnecessary expenditures and focusing on public welfare programs.
In September, the provincial government announced against purchasing new vehicles. However, authorities decided to procure new vehicles after ministers protested against the use of secondhand cars.
Earlier, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a bill increasing the salary, allowances, perks and privileges to each legislator just in 24 hours. According to the bill, MPA’s salary and incentives have been increased from Rs83000 to Rs2 lac per month.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/pm-imran-expresses-disappointment-over-punjab-assembly-decision-to-raise-ministers-pay/
The basic salary was raised from Rs18,000 to Rs80,000/month, daily allowance from Rs1000 to Rs4000/month and house rent from Rs29,000 to Rs50,000/month.
Besides this, the bill had fixed utility allowance from Rs6000 to Rs20,000/month and hospitality allowance from Rs10,000 to Rs20,000/month.
This received wide criticism, following which Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar did not sign the bill.
On March 14, Prime Minister Imran Khan also expressed his displeasure on Punjab Assembly’s decision to increase salaries and perks of lawmakers.
