ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Sunday said despite the politics of conspiracies, sit-ins and long marches by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government did not create any hurdles to stop them.
Talking to a news channel, he said PDM was a bunch of unemployed politicians who shut down power looms in Faisalabad during their respective tenures, making a large number of workers jobless, while the PTI restored the power looms and created employment opportunities.
He said although the government was trying level best to minimise the impact of global inflation on poor people, which was directly affecting prices of various commodities especially oil products, yet Pakistan’s economy had witnessed growth due to prudent policies.
He said petrol prices suddenly jumped from $35 to $85 per barrel and it was impossible for the government to bear the increase.
“However, we are trying to control the inflation on a sustainable basis and in this connection, long term policies are being implemented to enhance the export with diversification,” he said.
He said the price of coal had increased from $50 per tonne to $250 while the price of edible oil had risen from $500 per tonne to $1,200-1,300 at the international market. At the same time, the charges for container shipping were also increased from $2,000 dollars to $8,000 to $10,000 dollars, he added.
Replying to a question, he said despite all these odds, the government tried its level best to provide every possible relief to the masses. In this connection, talks were also underway with the owners of production units to bring down the prices of ghee for which the government was also ready for an appropriate reduction in taxes and levies.
The minister said the government would soon introduce a food support programme, Ehsaas cards, to 12 million families that would directly subsidise food items.
Similarly, farmers were being provided Kissan cards to get maximum food production and to meet agricultural needs by getting direct subsidies, he said and added that from November, health cards would also be issued which would also provide up to Rs1 million for treatment.
Habib said the farmers had witnessed bumper sugarcane crops and that would help reduce sugar prices in the country.
About the increase in power tariff, he said the government was forced to increase electricity prices as previous governments had set such a trap for the people where we had to pay electricity price whether we purchase it or not.
