THIS is with reference to the report “85pc budget of Balochistan spent on officials’ pay: CM Bizenjo” (Nov 19). Successive governments have reiterated the same narrative that the salaries of their employees consume the major share of the budget, while no one has hinted at a solution. Only recently, the government in Balochistan announced recruitment against over 2,400 vacancies in various departments. Besides, as everyone knows, thousands of existing employees are already underworked or are simply not attending office.

In this situation, the provincial government, instead of adding more employees in an already overstaffed setting, should focus on strengthening the private sector for providing employment in the poverty-stricken province.

Further, steps like human resources (HR) planning, centralisation of tasks in specia-lised units, and the use of enterprise software to automate repetitive tasks can be effective in enhancing the performance of the departments without hiring more staff.

Only this way, by keeping the expense on staff salaries constant, the provincial government can get rid of its financial woes.

Naveed Rind
Quetta

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2022