Allotment of Expensive Plots for Bureaucrats

Bilal Zuberi

How dispossessed must all the newspaper-reading, not-so-upper class, citizens of Pakistan must feel when they read about the recent allocation of dozens of expensive plots of land to federal secretaries and other bureaucrats? There are families who work tirelessley for years, just to own their own Bhains, their own supari shop, and their own little flat in an inner-city apartment building. And then read how already corrupt bureacrats are are “awarded” plush plots as “bonus” payments.

In a recent news report in The Daily Times, PM Shaukat Aziz has directed that more than 80 plots of land be allocated to high ranking officers in the government.

Establishment Division Secretary Tariq Ali Bukhari confirmed that he had received new orders from the Prime Minister Secretariat to submit the plot allotment summary to the PM for the remaining 36 federal government officers. Earlier, Aziz had issued plot allotment directives for the grade 22 secretaries at the behest of the Secretaries Committee.

The prime minister has ordered that D-12 sector plots be allocated to every federal secretary (grade 22) who has held the position for the last 14 months.

While the role of the PM in this highway robbery of sorts is absolutly despicable, it is even more entertaining, if not outright maddening, that the bureaucrats consider themselves to be so entitled to this allocation that they threatened to disrupt functioning of the government if not given the allottment. According to the news report:

NWFP Chief Secretary Ijaz Qureshi had previously threatened to move a petition before the court against the plan. Later, however, the chief secretaries of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh as well as the Inspectors General of Police (IGP) for Sindh, NWFP and Punjab also demanded plot allotments. It has also been suggested, sources said, that Islamabad-based bureaucrats who have already been allotted plots under government schemes, could be entitled to additional plot allotments.

I guess one way to silence Ijaz Qureshi was to just award a plot to him as well. Easily done. What is the PM thinking, and how can he be so easily blackmailed? Does he really think any of the people listed below deserve or need a gift?

The final decision on all the plots has not yet been taken, but I note with distress that chances are low for this decision to be reversed. In many ways this government is just following the norms of the bureaucracy as it has evolved in the past few decades. It is not news to anyone that government officers (generally speaking) have become used to rampant corruption and personal gain, inspite of their poor performance at the jobs.

It often feels that if these fringe benefits were not there, we would almost not have anyone to serve in the government. That is a terrible thought, knowing that we have bright young generation looking for career opportunities, if only given a chance. Something needs to be done to stop this rewarding of what has now almost become a mafia, thinly veiled under the guise of public servants. Or else our next generation wil also become roiled up in the same shinanigans as this failed generation of leaders.

I have no hesitation listing below the names of some of the people who expect to receive plots in this current allocation. This is probably not the first such allocation under this govenment, and may not even be the last, but at least this blog will forever document a list of those who received un-necessary bonuses, simply for being in influential positions:

Bureaucrats expected to be awarded plots under the new directives are: seven grade 22 officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including former high commissioner to India, Aziz Khan, current Ambassador to Russia Mustafa Kamal and Special Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sher Afgan; two officers of Audit and Accounts Group, including Chaudhray Ilyas, Director General Intellectual Property Rights Yasin Tahir; two officers posted to the World Bank, Sabtain Fazal and Sayed Shuja Haider; Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Tariq Hameed; Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) member Muhib Ullah; Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Chairiman Iftikhar Rasheed; National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Chairman Lt Gen (r) Saeed; two members of the Planning Commission; Trading Corporation of Pakistan Chairman Asif Zaman Ansari; Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Development Authority (SMEDA) Chairman Shahab Anwar Khawaja; Punjab Revenue Board senior member Safdar Javed; Punjab Planning and Development Chairman Salman Ghani; Election Commission of Pakistan Secretary Munawar Muhammad Dilshad; Senate Secretary Raja Muhammad Amin; Chief Secretary Sindh Fazalur Rehman; Chief Secretary Punjab Salman Sadique; Chief Secretary NWFP Ijaz Ahmed Qureshi; Chief Secretary Balochistan KB Rind; IGP Sindh Jehangir Mirza; IGP NWFP Rifat Pasha; and IGP Punjab Major (r) Ziaul Hassan.