PM nudges provinces for Punjab-style relief

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that other provinces should give relief to the masses in electricity bills like Punjab, instead of politicising the matter. He clarified that the federal government has no part in the relief package.

During the federal cabinet meeting, the PM, while rejecting the claim of a Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government representative who claimed that the federal government discriminated against other provinces, clarified that the Centre had had nothing to do with the relief package.

"If the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government wants to give such relief to the people, we will be happy," Shehbaz asserted. "Politics should be avoided and facts not distorted."

Instead, the premier urged other provinces to take out a portion of the trillions of rupees transferred to them under the National Finance Commission Award for providing relief to electricity consumers.

PM Shehbaz added that the Punjab government had spent Rs45 billion from its development budget to give relief of Rs14 per unit for a period of two months to those electricity consumers who are using 200 to 500 units of electricity.

Meanwhile, the cabinet was briefed on the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the Mubarak Sani case. The cabinet was informed that an additional application had been filed in the Supreme Court on August 17, 2024, at the directions of the prime minister.

It was further stated that there was a detailed discussion on the case in the National Assembly and the matter was handed over to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice. The government and opposition parties unanimously decided that the NA would inform the federal government about the factual and legal aspects of the case, and the opinions of the scholars in the Supreme Court.

As per the instructions of the PM, the attorney general will appear in the hearing of the additional application in the Supreme Court on August 22, 2024. He will present arguments in light of the opinion of the Ulemas and the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice.

In his opening remarks, PM Shehbaz told the cabinet members that almost 60% of the NFC funds have been given to the provinces, highlighting that the federal government faced immense challenges in the form of repayment of loans and interest on foreign-aided projects.

Shehbaz the meeting that the federal government has also allocated Rs50 billion to provide relief for three months to consumers using up to 200 units of electricity, which is 86 percent of the total household users.

In partnership with the Balochistan government, the premier said that 28,000 tube-wells will be transferred to solar energy at a cost of Rs70 billion, of which Rs55 billion will be borne by the federal government. He added that this would benefit 28,000 farmers and also curb the problem of power theft.

The PM said that the federal government, in consultation with provinces, is working on long-term measures to stabilise the economy and increase domestic trade and exports. He continued that the Centre will take all such steps after informing the IMF, emphasising that "PTI's irrational move to breach the agreement had brought the country to the brink of default."

Highlighting the results of the government's economic policies, PM Shehbaz said that inflation has reduced from 38 percent to 11.5 percent, but more efforts are needed to improve the situation. He also emphasised efforts to meet the revenue target of Rs13.5 trillion and overcome losses in the power sector.

Shehbaz also drew the attention of the cabinet to the death and destruction caused by heavy rains and consequent floods in some parts of the country. He lauded the efforts of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with the provinces and PDMAs.

Following the meeting, a statement said that the federal cabinet approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Uzbekistan Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade and Pakistan's Federal Ministry of Commerce to promote cooperation in the field of electronic commerce (e-commerce).

Also, the federal cabinet approved the establishment of the Prime Minister's Skills Development Company under the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) in light of Section 42 of the Companies Act, 2017.

The establishment of the company is for collecting funds for technical and vocational training, funds management, and implementation of various training programmes under the fund.

In light of the Prime Minister's directive, the company is being set up to separate the operational and regulatory affairs of NAVTTC. The company will look after the operational matters of training while NAVTTC will look after regulatory matters.

The cabinet has approved handing over the operations of King Hamad University of Nursing and Associated Medical Sciences to the National University of Medical Sciences on the recommendation of the Ministry of National Health.

In this regard, a memorandum of understanding will be signed between the Ministry of National Health and the Ministry of Defence.

Decisions taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government-Owned Enterprises on August 12, 2024, were also approved, along with those in the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee on August 15.