Punjab's provincial government has removed 75,000 posts across 44 departments and their attached bodies under a rightsizing policy. Finance department sources say the move is saving an estimated Rs35 billion to Rs40 billion a year. Rightsizing means reviewing and reducing the number of government posts so that offices run with a leaner, better-organised structure. The posts had been vacant for a long time, the sources said.
What the cuts cover
Under the policy, a rightsizing committee has been set up in each of the 44 departments and attached bodies. The Punjab government is also reorganising posts it considers unnecessary and moving routine office work onto digital systems. School education accounts for the largest share, with 30,391 posts in grades 1 to 16 removed. Agriculture lost 5,199 posts, irrigation 1,041, forests 753, housing 727, special education 244, and the prosecution department and its attached bodies 221.
The education department also cut 2,000 posts in recent days. The figures do not make clear whether those 2,000 are counted within the 30,391. In August, the government approved the removal of a further 101 posts across several departments and the South Punjab Secretariat. At the Civil Secretariat, 128 grade 17 section officer posts were abolished, and the government has chosen to bring in specialists in law, finance, IT, artificial intelligence and data analytics in place of the traditional office structure.
Schools and approved posts
In May 2025, the school education department approved 26,898 new posts for 1,961 new and upgraded schools. Rather than filling these through fresh recruitment, the department decided to adjust existing teaching and support staff to schools where they are needed. The approval therefore did not lead to new hiring. No timetable for moving staff between schools was given, and the next phase of the policy has not been detailed.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Punjab government ne 44 mehkamon mein 75 hazar posts khatam ki hain, aur finance department ke mutabiq is se saalana Rs35 se Rs40 arab tak bachat ho rahi hai. Sab se zyada kami school education mein hui hai, jahan manzoor shuda 26 hazar se ziada naye posts par naye bharti ke bajaye maujooda staff ko adjust kiya jaye ga. Aam shehri ke liye matlab yeh hai ke sarkari dafaatir aur schools mein kaam ka dhancha badal raha hai.
