Due to public outcry, officials in the Surkhandarya region will not receive 661 million som.

The Surkhandarya regional administration has announced the cancellation of its earlier decision to award bonuses to its leadership. The decree issued by Hakim Ulugbek Kosimov on January 20 of this year, which allocated 661 million sums in bonuses, was rescinded following public outcry. Initially, it was planned to reward eight deputy hakims of the region, as well as the hakims of the city of Termez and the districts of the region, in connection with the celebration of Defender of the Fatherland Day, observed on January 14.

According to the press service of the Surkhandarya regional administration, the cancellation was prompted by the negative reaction from the public. The allocated funds, as stated in the official announcement, will be redirected to finance the "From Poverty to Well-Being" program being implemented in the region.

Previously, the Daryo publication reported on the planned bonuses for officials, citing a copy of the decree marked "for official use only." According to the published information, each of the 23 recipients of the bonus – deputies of the regional hakim and heads of city and district administrations – was supposed to receive over 28 million sums.

The funding for the bonuses was to be sourced from the free balances of the regional budget, formed at the beginning of 2025. The document justified the payments by citing the achievements of the officials in their work and the quality of their performance of official duties.

The hakim's decree was not made publicly available. The regional administration explained this by the presence of "personal information" in the document. It should be noted that a significant portion of official documents from various levels of hakimiats in Uzbekistan is not published openly. The lack of transparency in the activities of local government bodies raises concerns among the public and prompts discussions on the need for a more open information policy.