Govt employee’s regularization will affect KP’s finances

Wisal Yousafzai

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has started developmental work in every nook and corner as well as also tables a bill in the provincial assembly to regularize more employees to get vote in the coming general election.

In December 2017, the KP cabinet approved the up-gradation of 75,722 employees of various pay scales to higher grades including 65,736 police officials and constables. It also regularized the services of 4743 contract employees of 53 projects working in the province regardless of their financial impact on the provincial exchequer.

An official of the K-P finance department seeking anonymity told that they were helpless to oppose the “massive,” up-gradation and regularization although they knew the repercussions of the decisions taken. “We, the finance department, do tug of war with the political government for 4 years but in the last year of the government they drag their programs from under our foots as they have to prepare themselves for next elections,” said the official when asked why finance did not resist the move.

The provincial assembly, on December 15, 2017, regularized the services of 40,000 teachers and other staff of the elementary and secondary education department who were recruited by the incumbent government via National Testing Services (NTS).

Similarly, on October 13, 2017, the assembly through a private members bill regularized the services of 772 teaching assistants who were recruited on Ad-hoc basis by the PTI-led K-P government to fill the shortage of teachers in colleges.

All these regularizations and up-gradation affects the province’s salaries and pension budget which is rapidly increasing every year thus shrinking fiscal space for developmental projects.

The province’s total staff strength has cross 500,000 figure as per the finance department officials while, in the budget strategy paper-1 for the fiscal year 2018-19 the department has projected the salaries budget at Rs243 billion as compared to the Rs218 billion of the ongoing fiscal year.

Budget expert and program coordinator at Centre for Governance and Accountability (CGPA) said that 75 % budget of the budget is spending in current budget and if we out the foreign budget then it will come to 65 %.

He further said that around 218 billion rupees budget goes to the current salaries in 2017-18 budget as around 42 % of the fiancé is going in the salaries of the government employees.

He informed that if the government every years regularized employee then it was not burden on the finance but the provincial government its last tenure regularized huge employee and any government who will come after election they will face huge financial problems.

When contacted with Minister for Information and KP government spokesperson Shah Farman he said that the regularization process is legal process and one of the promised of the government.

He informed that KP government passed more than one hundred legislation  from the assembly , adding that the developmental project and construction work is the citizen rights and  KP government is near to achieve all its goals and promises which they had did with the people in the election.

He further said that regularization of employee was approved from the finance department and was passed from the KP assembly no one in the opposition and in the government legislator opposed the bill.

When asked that the employee regularization will increase burden on finance? Shah Farman reply that the regularization will not burden on finance as first it was approved from the finance department and then it was table in the assembly.