Those earning less than Rs40,000 to get Rs2,000 subsidy

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday said that the government was giving Rs2,000 monthly subsidy to all those earning less than Rs40,000 a month so that they could absorb inflationary pressures after the increase in petroleum prices.

“Anybody whose monthly salary is less than Rs40,000 is getting, Rs2,000 from the government. Whether, it is labourer, farmer, teacher, vendor, working women or the student who does part-time work to bear the expenses of his/her education, all are being given the subsidy,” she told a news conference.

Marriyum asked the eligible persons to make a call on 786 to get relief. “Rs2,000 is being given in a transparent manner after checking the income level of the caller, who seeks subsidy,” she added.

The minister said that the relief package was announced prior to the decision taken by the government for increasing the prices of petroleum products.

“It was easy for us to raise the prices on the very first day of our government, but it was Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif who stressed giving a relief package to the people before the increase,” she said.
It was the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government that used to increase petroleum prices after every 15 days in the dark of night, she added.

Marriyum said that the subsidy would also be given to all those who were already getting a monthly stipend under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

“This is called relief,” she said while reprimanding those who were criticising the government which had only one vision of resolving the issues faced by the people due to the PTI’s four-year rule marred with “incompetence” and “corruption”.

“We have done this before and set the example by doing it again. We do not raise mere slogans and lecture others as it is the PTI which had given the gifts of inflation, massive unemployment and economic woes to the people,” she observed.

She ruled out PTI chief Imran Khan’s return to power in his life due to the steep decline in his popularity among the people, who had rejected him for his “incompetence”, “negative politics”, “corruption”, “loot” and “plunder”.

Read more: Imran ‘set a trap’ for us by lowering POL prices: Shehbaz

The minister said that it was the current government, which was striving to save the people from the inflationary impact caused by the bad governance and wrong policies of the PTI government.

“It was easy for us to hand over the government to the caretaker setup by leaving the country into crisis. We can easily take the decision for our own political gains, but we demonstrated a responsible attitude only for the sake of the country’s stability and progress,” she maintained.

Marriyum said that the country was witnessing load-shedding of 18 hours every day in 2013, but it was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, which had almost brought it to zero.

The minister flayed that the PTI’s “rented spokespersons” were criticising the government’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “These spokespersons have no right to lecture us on the economy as they were removed by their own prime minister Imran Khan from the ministries over bad performance,” she remarked.

“When the economy collapsed and market confidence waned, they negotiated with the IMF on weak grounds,” she said, recalling that the then-finance minister transferred the then-finance secretary for pointing out the tough conditions agreed by them.

Marriyum also rejected the claim of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government about the rise in flour prices, saying the federal government had offered to buy 200,000 tonnes for the former so that the rate could be declined in the province. Under the 18th Amendment, the provinces themselves fixed the flour prices and it was the PTI government, which had been ruling the KP for the last eight years.

She said that there would be a conference on Tuesday at the Prime Minister’s Office, wherein all business stakeholders would be invited to finalise the ‘Charter of Economy’. The process of inclusion of all political parties was also underway, she added.

Red lines would be drawn in the Charter of Economy and no government would be able to cross those lines whatsoever, she concluded.