Austerity Drive: Pak PM Bans First-Class Air Travel For Top Govt Officials

Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister on Friday, banned first-class air travel for the top officials like the President, Head of the Government, Chief Justice, Senate Chairman and the National Assembly speaker, India Today reported.

As per the Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry, the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 24.

According to The Hindu, he told media, “It has been decided that all the top government officials, including the president, prime minister, chief justice, senate chairman, speaker national assembly and the chief ministers will travel in club/business.”

This decision comes as a part of the austerity drive and as a result, abolishment of discretionary funds of the federal ministers and members of the National Assembly, including the Prime Minister was also declared, The Hindu reported.

While talking to the media, Chaudhry also said that earlier, army chief was not allowed to travel by first class and always used business class.

According to Zee News India, The Prime Minister, Imran Khan, himself, will stop using special plane for foreign visits, instead, he will fly on a business class ticket. His special plane, however, will be used for his domestic journeys.

Change In Working Hours

In the same meeting, the cabinet rejected the proposal of a six-day working week and decided to continue with five days working and two days holiday. Some of the ministers opposed to the six working days as they felt that it may alienate the government servants.

The practice of five working days was first constituted in 2011, citing power shortage and to save fuels. It is being reported that the five working day has not affected the efficiency.

However, the working timings of the day have changed, while the working duration hours will remain the same. The updated work timings will be 9 to 5 pm, as compared to the earlier 8 to 4 pm.

Other Important Decisions:

According to the reports from India Today, the following decisions were also made –

1. The members of the meeting decided to conduct an audit of all mega transport projects carried out in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the last government.
2. The up gradation of shanty settlements across Pakistan and formation of a task force for the same.
3. Launching tree plantation in major cities in Pakistan.

Only Two Aides For PM

The Pakistan cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan was elected as a Prime Minister of Pakistan on July 25, and since then, austerity has been his top priority. Owing to this, he decided to keep only two servants and only two vehicles for his use.

Further, Khan did not accept palatial Prime Minister house, instead chose a small portion of it to live in which was earlier used as a residence by the military secretary to the prime minister.

Also Read: Imran Khan Government Lifts Political Censorship In State-Run Media