Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that instead of politicking, the provincial governments should follow the Punjab government’s course of providing relief to electricity consumers.
The prime minister while presiding over the meeting of the federal cabinet said that the Punjab government had spared Rs45 billion out of its development budget to provide Rs14 per unit relief to the electricity consumers, utilising 200 to 500 units for two months.
“This is the right of the people. The federal government has zero contribution to this relief package… Other provinces should also do the same. If the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government wants to give such relief to the people, we will be happy. But politicking should be avoided and facts should not be distorted,” the prime minister commented.
While rubbishing the criticism by a KP government representative alleging any discrimination by the federal government, he explained that it had nothing to do with that package.
He told the cabinet members that almost 60% of the NFC funds went to the provinces. The federal government had to face immense challenges in the form of the payment of loans and interests on foreign-funded projects that benefited the whole of the country.
The federal government had also allocated Rs50 billion to provide a three-month relief to domestic consumers using up to 200 units of electricity which constituted around 86% of the total domestic consumers, the premier said.
Besides, he said, in partnership with the Balochistan government, 28,000 tube wells would be solarised in the province costing Rs70 billion, out of which Rs55 billion would be borne by the federal government. “This would benefit 28,000 farmers besides addressing the issue of power theft,” he added.
The prime minister said that the federal government, in consultation with the provincial governments, was working on long-term measures to stabilise the economy and boost the country’s trade and exports.
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He said the federal government would take all such measures after taking the IMF on board, unlike the PTI’s “irrational” step of violating the agreement which had taken the country to the brink of default.
The prime minister drew the cabinet’s attention to the deaths and destruction caused by the heavy rains and consequent flash floods in parts of the country. The cabinet also offered prayers for the people who lost their lives in the rain and flood-related incidents and also the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in different incidents of terrorism.
