Federal govt abolishes aviation ministry under rightsizing plan

ISLAMABAD: Under its much-touted rightsizing strategy aiming to reduce expenses and boost institutional performance, the federal government has abolished the Ministry of Aviation and merged it into the Ministry of Defence.

The defence ministry has issued a letter regarding the merger to notify the development to all ministries and divisions after completing the implementation of statutory regulatory orders (SROs) given by the Cabinet Division on February 4.

The letter, sent to all provincial chief secretaries including top officials of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), stated that the defence ministry should be approached for all aviation matters in future.

Through this merger, the incumbent government was eyeing saving Rs145 million annually.

The decision was taken last month after the federal government turned down a proposal to create a separate transport division by merging aviation, railways and communication divisions.

The PM Shehbaz-led administration received a new recommendation on January 10 for merging the aviation ministry with the defence ministry, which was previously managing aviation matters until 2013, more aligned with the strategic goals as part of the rightsizing programme.

The federal government has formulated a rightsizing programme by abolishing various ministries and their attached departments to reduce expenditures and improve the efficiency of the government.

In January, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb vowed to rightsize 42 ministries and their 400 attached departments by June 30 of the current fiscal year, adding that the rightsizing committee will reduce 80 institutions to half.

Sharing the six-month performance of the high-powered Cabinet Committee on Rightsizing, Aurangzeb said that the government decided to bring five or six departments under rightsizing in each phase.

"60% vacant regular posts — that have not come in payroll — which stood at 150,000 have been abolished or declared as dying posts, creating a real financial impact," he said.

The minister recalled that efforts had been made previously to reduce the size of the federal government, adding that they are trying to reduce the federal government's expenditure of Rs900 billion.

He said, under Wave-1, six ministries including Kashmir Affair and Gilgit Baltistan, SAFRON; Information Technology and Telecom; Industries and Production; National Health Services Regulations and Coordination; Capital Development Authority (CAD) were processed.

Subsequently, the government also started examining five more institutions — Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Revenue Division and Petroleum Division and their attached departments — for the rightsizing.