As the incumbent government strives to bring financial discipline and austerity measures, the National Assembly of Pakistan exceeded all government departments and ministries in drastically cutting its expenses during the last three years, saving as much as 26% of its allocated budget.
This was noted in the meeting of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly here in Islamabad, which met under the chairmanship of Speaker Asad Qaiser.
The Additional Secretary of the Finance Ministry acknowledged that National Assembly Secretariat had set a unique example of austerity, unmatched by any other executive department. During the last three years, no new cars were bought neither any renovation nor uplift of any office or parliamentary lodges were carried. Further, no new posts were created while a drastic cut was brought on foreign visits. The Speaker remains the least traveled head of the apex legislature so far.
Finance Committee was further informed that the national legislature of the country was operating on a meager resource base of merely 0.001% of the total federal budget. The National Assembly comprises 342 members with over three dozen committees and a staff of some 1200 personnel. Despite this heavy load, the parliamentarians were made to cut down on expenses. It was further apprised that 1 billion and 57 million rupees were surrendered during the financial year 2020-21.
It was also highly appreciated that under Speaker Asad Qaiser, new administrative and financial reforms resulted in better human resource management, resulting in minimizing the ensuing litigation to almost 0%.
