Khusro Bakhtiyar. PHOTO: FILE
“We cannot make roads through loans and grants. No supplementary grant will be approved in the current financial year,” Bakhtiar told participants of a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee for Planning, Development, and Reforms.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Nawab Sher Waseer painted a bleak picture of the situation of farmers, who, he said, are getting nothing and are not even provided a meager Rs180/40 kg support price for sugarcane.
Demanding that the support price be increased to Rs300/40 kg, he appreciated the policies of Pakistan People Party (PPP) previous government with regard to farmers. Before joining the ruling PTI, Waseer belonged to the PPP.
Admitting that inflation was rising, Bakhtiar said the premier had called an important meeting to discuss inflation. He said one of the reasons for inflation was the monopoly of the wholesalers.
He briefed the panel about salient features of the draft of the 12th five years plan and suggested that the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reform and Standing Committee on Finance & Revenue may examine and suggest valuable opinions on the draft plan before finalizing.
He said the government is trying to achieve the target of sustainable GDP by controlling fiscal deficit, improving the balance of payment, increasing exports through improving domestic production and decreasing imports.
“For improvement in domestic productivity the government is planning to pay special attention towards the agriculture sector, small-medium enterprises (SME) and large scale manufacturing,” he said. The planning ministry also submitted a comprehensive analysis of the last three five-year plans.
The representatives from Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa raised issues relating to devolution.
The meeting recommended that the pending issues relating to devolved ministries may be resolved at the earliest by the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination with the consultation of cabinet division.
The Director-General (Works) CDA briefed the committee about the construction of additional family suites for the members of Parliament. The committee appreciated the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government for inclusion of the marble city Buner project in the provincial development programme 2019-20 on the recommendation of the National Assembly Standing Committee.
It also constituted a three-member subcommittee to examine the Mansehra airport project, under the convenership of MNA Saleh Muhammad.
(With additional input from agencies.)
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