Govt’s ‘pro-poor’ reforms to usher in prosperity: Farrukh

ISLAMABAD:

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib has said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has dragged Pakistan out of difficult times as he maintained that a new era of prosperity would begin very soon.

Addressing a public gathering after laying the foundation stone for carpeted road and soling of streets in Kakkuana here on Sunday night, the minister said the government would introduce pro-poor policies to mitigate the suffering of downtrodden segments of society.

“The people of Pakistan are lucky that they elected an honest leader like Prime Minister Imran Khan who introduced focused policies to facilitate the masses in addition to putting the economy on right track,” he added.

Farrukh stressed that the premier must be given a second term in office to accomplish his policies and permanently resolve issues being confronted by the masses for the last 70 years.

‘Politicians trying to protect corrupt system’

The information and broadcasting minister held the previous rulers responsible who he said had failed to discharge their moral, political and national obligations to resolve the problems of the country. “They rather complicated the issues and the PTI government had to make extra efforts to put things right.”

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“Rejected politicians are making hue and cry just to maintain the obsolete and corrupt system which may support them to regain power in the next elections,” he added.

“The conduct of Prime Minister Imran Khan is fair. He introduced a neutral umpire in cricket and now wanted to purge the electoral process of its discrepancies and faults through the introduction of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines). People must support the EVM for their own benefit as a true democratic system and democratically elected leader could resolve issues of the masses."

He went on to say that in the 2018 general elections, over 1.5 million votes were rejected and emphasised that since “we are living in an IT age, we must get benefit from it”.

He described Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari as the "products of the obsolete system" and asserted that Prime Minister Imran Khan intends to replace the system with "a fairest, transparent and efficient system without any human intervention".

Defending the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the next general polls, Farrukh asserted that no vote could be rejected or wasted in the EVM, with the results becoming available just within 15 to 20 minutes after closing of polling.

About the welfare policies of the PTI government, he said that the government was trying to provide shelter to the poor segments of society. “The banks have so far received applications for house loans worth Rs224 billion out of which applications of Rs.19 billion have been approved while Rs.24 billion has been disbursed so far”, he added.

‘Pandemic-induced inflation’

Speaking about the ongoing inflation, Farrukh said that the surge in prices was coronavirus-pushed inflation while the government had tried its best to facilitate the masses.
He said that oil prices had jumped from $500 to $1200. Similarly, coal prices had also recorded an unprecedented increase.

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"The government could levy a 17 per cent sales tax on petroleum products, but it had reduced it to zero to save the people from the unnecessary burden of global inflation."

He said that the Ehsaas programme had been launched for the poor segments of society. He announced that 20 million families across the county will get a subsidy of Rs.120 billion.

“This subsidy will be available on flour, ghee and pulses,” he said and noted that sugar prices were also declining as cane crushing season had started.

Under Ehsaas ration card, he said, each family will get a subsidy of Rs.1000 per month.

“Similarly, health cards have been delivered to every individual in KPK while this process will be completed in Punjab by end of December this year. The health cardholder can get medical treatment up to Rs.1 million per annum,” he added.