The federal government on Thursday decided to abolish 30,968 positions across various departments as part of its rightsizing agenda aimed at enhancing administrative efficiency.

Briefing the committee, the Secretary of the Cabinet Division said the decision was taken under the directives of the prime minister, who has called for trimming down the size of the federal government to refocus on core functions and cut down on unnecessary expenditures.

According to the briefing, of the total posts set to be abolished, 7,724 have been identified as “dying posts”, meaning they will be phased out gradually. The largest impact will be on Scale-1 jobs, with 7,305 positions to be scrapped, while at the higher end, only two jobs in Grades 21-22, 36 in Grade 20, and 99 in Grade 19 will be eliminated.

The Cabinet Secretary told the committee that a parallel review is being conducted on the commercial activities managed by the government to determine their relevance and effectiveness.

However, regulatory bodies will not be affected by the current downsizing, though they have been instructed to share data regarding their advisory staff and salary structures.

Expressing her reservations, Senator Sherry Rehman questioned the rationale behind the government’s reform approach. “On one hand, the government speaks of reducing expenditure, and on the other, the size of the federal cabinet has been doubled,” she said. She also inquired about the implications of this policy for government employees, particularly those who might face early retirement.

Responding to these concerns, the Cabinet Secretary said the rightsizing initiative is expected to yield substantial fiscal savings and has already led to a noticeable decline in public expenditure, even before the removal of non-essential posts. He stressed that the aim is to boost operational efficiency within government departments.

Committee members were also informed that the performance of the Rightsizing Committee is being regularly monitored, with an emphasis on maintaining transparency and accountability throughout the process.