Editorial
Pakistan’s political elite have long been criticized for insulating themselves from the economic misery they preside over. Now the bureaucracy has followed suit. Punjab’s newly issued notification expanding vehicle and fuel entitlements for civil servants across all senior grades is not administrative housekeeping. It is a statement of priorities, and those priorities have nothing to do with the struggling citizen.
Under the new rules, the Chief Secretary and Inspector General of Punjab may now maintain three official vehicles simultaneously, including engines of 2800, 1800, and 4700 cc. The 4700 cc vehicle comes with no fuel limit whatsoever. Previously, these same officers were entitled to 1300 and 1600 cc vehicles with a monthly fuel ceiling of 200 litres. The contrast is not subtle.
The upgrades cascade downward through the hierarchy. Grade 21 and 22 officers now receive unlimited official fuel, Grade 19 officers have had their vehicle engine size and fuel allowances increased across the board, and even Grade 18 deputy secretaries have moved from 1000 cc vehicles to 1500 cc entitlements. At every level, the state is spending more to carry fewer people in greater comfort.
This comes at a moment when Pakistan is under an IMF programme demanding fiscal austerity, when circular debt crushes the power sector, when indirect taxes squeeze the poorest, and when FDI has collapsed by 51 percent because investors see no credible path to economic stability. Against that backdrop, expanding bureaucratic perquisites is not just tone-deaf. It is a betrayal.
The bureaucracy is meant to serve the public. When it treats state resources as personal entitlements, it stops being a public institution and becomes a privileged class. Punjab’s notification deserves not just scrutiny but reversal. Austerity, if it means anything at all, must begin at the top.
