THE Federal Cabinet, which met in Islamabad on Tuesday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, expressed pious intentions about tackling of the issues of inflation and poverty, constituted a panel to ponder over popular demands for lifting of uncalled for ban on provision of electricity and gas to (unapproved) housing societies and localities and vowed to provide relief to the consumers as the Government would save Rs 100 billion annually due to signing of a new deal with Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
The remarks of Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz that tackling inflation was Government’s top priority and the menace would be defeated like Covid-19 are reassuring as rising prices have become topmost concern of the people of Pakistan. The Minister did not explain what exactly the Government intends to do to check inflation and address the menace of abysmal poverty but the two are interlinked and need to be tackled immediately. It is understood that hundreds of thousands of families were pushed below the poverty line due to unprecedented inflation caused either by actions and decisions of the Government or its failure to act promptly and effectively against profiteers, hoarders and smugglers. One fails to understand how the Government would succeed in realizing the cherished objective of checking inflation when it is not willing even to pass on the relief of falling prices of oil in the international market to the domestic consumers, raises power and gas tariff and allows free fall of rupee without gaining anything in terms of enhanced exports that is presented as a rationale behind the exchange rate policy. There would remain a clash in words and deeds until and unless a well thought-out harmonious strategy is not adopted on these issues as people are finding it difficult to afford electricity and gas bills without compromising their quality of life.
The promise to provide relief to power consumers after fresh deal with IPPs is like a light at the end of a dark tunnel but there are also reports of Government being advised to use to savings to cut down the problematic circular debt. Similarly, the issue of poverty is deeply linked to unemployment, repeated cuts on developmental expenditure and static salary structure, which must be addressed satisfactorily through a balanced approach. Despite keen interest being shown at the highest level, there are so far no indications of the relevant governmental machinery becoming active in taking action against those creating artificial shortage of commodities and jacking up their prices. The inability of the authorities to check unjust and unexplained increase in prices of sugar and wheat flour is glaring example of erosion of writ of the Government and ballooning influence of mafias on the economy of the country. People are also suffering due to prolonged ban on provision of electricity and gas connections to localities that have not been approved by the relevant platforms. There is absolutely no justification to deprive residents of these areas of basic amenities of life after they invested heavily on purchase of land and construction of houses. The relevant institutions should have acted timely to prevent establishment of illegal societies and housing schemes but there is no logic to deny them power and gas connections when Government has no other option to regularize these schemes as it cannot afford to demolish structures worth billions of rupees. The ban should be removed instantly if the government is least concerned about plight of residents of the affected localities. The cabinet deserves appreciation for taking a holistic approach to the issue of provision of relief to all those affected by incessant rains and flash floods in parts of the country. No doubt, Karachi, because of concentration of population, has suffered most and is in the limelight but there are thousands of people both in rural areas of Sindh and other regions of the country who cannot resume normal life without due assistance from provincial and federal governments. However, there are wide concerns that the decision of the cabinet not to release funds directly to the Sindh government for the victims of the flood- and rain-hit areas could be counter-productive like the US assistance under Kerry-Lugar Bill. The aid is unlikely to produce the desired results if spent directly by the Federal Government without taking local authorities on board.
