Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the cabinet members that austerity measures be implemented in letter and spirit.
Giving a briefing on cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan said Prime Minister Imran Khan explained to the cabinet of all those initiatives that he personally took for austerity keeping in view the current economic challenges faced by the country.
He said cabinet members should set an example for others by adopting simple lifestyle.
Firdous Ashiq Awan said the media did not accurately report the amount allocated for Prime Minister House in the new budget. She said the previous budget allocated to Prime Minister House was 1.10 billion rupees.
The incumbent government spent 750 million rupees out of it and saved 32% amount.
The Special Assistant said in budget 2019-20 there is already a cut of 13% for the PM House expenses.
She said the incumbent government is even paying a sum of 280 million rupees in terms of outstanding bills of electricity left by previous government.
Criticizing the role of opposition in the National Assembly,
she said the undue criticism by opposition on budget is illogical.
She also criticized the besieging of NA Speaker at his chamber.
Glorification of crime will not be allowed and Chief Ministers have been directed to discourage giving of protocols to criminals in their court hearings.
She said prerogative of issuing production order lies with the Speaker of National Assembly and he should see the merit of it.
Special Assistant said no production order was issued for Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad during the tenure of previous government, despite the fact that he had no criminal case against him.
Prime Minister informed the cabinet that he along with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will attend the UN General Assembly session in New York in September as part of austerity drive of the government.
The cabinet was informed that 157 Rest Houses of various government departments in addition to PTDC motels and NHA rest houses will also be opened for public.
Cabinet was informed that 88 per cent of its previous decisions have been implemented while work on rest is ongoing.
It was decided that Ministry of Agriculture would devise a course of action in cooperation with provincial authorities regarding the situation of sugarcane crops in the country.
Minister for Food Security was directed to work on National Agricultural Plan, presented in the budget, with provincial governments to disseminate the information at the level of farmers.
In order to stop mobile phone smuggling of 150 billion rupees, the cabinet directed the concerned ministry to take steps to check this trend.
