The federal government has merged the Ministry of Aviation with the Ministry of Defence as part of its rightsizing plan to reduce state expenditures, thereby abolishing the status of another ministry.
The defence ministry has issued a notification regarding this merger, informing all ministries and divisions after completing the implementation of statutory regulatory orders (SROs) given by the Cabinet Division on February 4.
This letter has been sent to all provincial chief secretaries, including top officials of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), stating that all aviation matters should now be directed to the defence ministry.
Through this merger, the government aims to save Rs145 million annually.
The decision was made last month after the federal government rejected a proposal to create a separate transport division by merging aviation, railways, and communication divisions.
On January 10, the Shehbaz-led administration received a new recommendation to merge the aviation ministry with the defence ministry, which had previously managed aviation matters until 2013. This move aligns with the strategic objectives of the rightsizing programme.
The federal government has devised a rightsizing programme to reduce expenditures and enhance efficiency by abolishing various ministries and their attached departments.
In January, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that the government plans to downsize 42 ministries and their 400 attached departments by June 30 of the current fiscal year, adding that the rightsizing committee will cut 80 institutions in half.
Sharing the six-month performance report of the high-powered Cabinet Committee on Rightsizing, Aurangzeb stated that the government would include five or six departments in each phase of the process.
He further revealed that 60% of vacant regular posts, which were not included in the payroll and amounted to 150,000 positions, have been abolished or declared redundant, creating a significant financial impact.
The finance minister recalled that previous efforts had been made to reduce the size of the federal government, adding that the current administration aims to cut down government expenditures of Rs900 billion.
He mentioned that in the first phase, six ministries, including Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, SAFRON, Information Technology and Telecom, Industries and Production, National Health Services Regulations and Coordination, and Capital Development Authority (CDA), have been processed under the rightsizing plan.
Subsequently, the government has also begun evaluating five more institutions — the Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Revenue Division, and Petroleum Division — along with their attached departments, for possible inclusion in the rightsizing programme.
