Recently, the Punjab government approved several lavish perks, including a posh mess for bureaucrats, easy loans for judges to build houses, and new vehicles for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly.
Urdu News gathered information from the Punjab government’s S&GAD department to verify whether the current government is indeed providing such benefits without justification and to assess their impact on the national treasury.
New Residences for High-Ranking Officers: According to official documents, the Punjab government is constructing 29 new houses in DHA Lahore for grade 20, 21, and 22 officers, costing Rs 2 billion. Each house will cover an area of two kanals.
Although approved during the tenure of the previous caretaker government, the current administration continues this project. A summary for building 127 new houses in DHA for officers below grade 20 has been sent to the Chief Minister’s Office, pending approval.
The documents also reveal a severe shortage of official residences, with over 3,000 grade 17 and 18 officers currently without housing. An additional Rs 1.2 billion is being spent on renovating the GOR-I mess hall, the oldest residence for government officers in Lahore.
Approval for New Vehicles: Last week, the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly approved a new vehicle worth Rs 100 million for himself. Similarly, a Rs 20 million vehicle was approved for the Deputy Speaker. The Finance Committee of the Punjab Assembly sanctioned these vehicles.
Renovation and Maintenance Budgets: Approved during the previous caretaker government, the current budget allocates Rs 1.5 billion for renovating the Chief Minister’s House, ministers’ residences, bureaucrats, and judges’ houses in GOR-I. Moreover, Rs 85 million is earmarked for converting these residences to solar power, and Rs 70 million for the repair of the Chief Minister’s House.
Loans for Judges: The budget includes a scheme to provide each judge with a Rs 1 billion loan to build their houses, a scheme initially approved during Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s tenure as Chief Minister, with the loan limit increased from Rs 500 million to Rs 1 billion.
Other Renovations: Rs 390 million has been allocated to renovate the historic Poonch House in Lahore, transforming it into the ‘Deputy Commissioner House.’
Opposition Criticism: Opposition leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar criticized the government’s extravagant spending, calling it a “TikTok government” recklessly using public funds. He noted the high cost of new houses in DHA and questioned the lack of new appointments for Punjab’s Chief Secretary and IG. He highlighted the burden of electricity bills on the public, contrasting it with the government’s lavish expenditures.
Government’s Response: Information Minister Azma Bukhari dismissed the criticism, stating that repairs and daily expenses of government buildings are routine budget items.
She emphasized that the current government practices austerity, eliminating several departments that burdened the treasury, and the new housing approvals predate the current administration. She assured that details of these efforts will be made public once completed.
By MediaBites
