THE issues discussed and decisions taken by the Federal Cabinet, which met on Tuesday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair, has sent a reassuring message to the people that the new Government was fully alive to the problems and difficulties of the masses and is determined to adopt a proactive approach to resolve them.
Contrary to the state of indecision that complicated issues during tenure of the PTI Government, the present Government is taking prompt and timely decisions to safeguard interests of the general public as has been highlighted by proceedings of the latest meeting of the cabinet.
Pakistan is an agriculture country and there is absolutely no justification for shortage of food items, especially wheat, rice, sugar, cotton and pulses but regrettably due to lack of focus on agriculture development, the country is facing food shortage with the exception of sugar, which should be a source of concern for our policy-makers and planners.
The surplus production of sugar is understandable as the prices of the commodity stayed at the highest level during the period of the previous Government.
There was a demand from the industry for permission to export sugar but the Prime Minister has done well by banning its exports with the twin objectives of stabilizing its prices and preventing its shortage for local consumers.
The decision of the PM is appreciable as the previous Government first allowed export of the commodity and then imported inferior quality sugar at higher prices when price of local sugar peaked due to shortage and manipulative tactics of the sugar mafia.
The sugar is now selling at Rs.70 a kilogram and hopefully the price would stabilize due to prudent policy of the Government.
It is widely believed that the main factor behind reduced production of wheat in the country this year was the inability of the Government to ensure timely availability of fertilizer.
In this backdrop, at the very outset of reports that flour mills have jacked up prices of wheat on the plea that they were not getting wheat at subsidized rates from the Government, a decision has been taken to import three million metric tonnes of wheat, which would go a long way in bolstering stocks at a time when new crop is also arriving in the market.
The Cabinet has also decided to work on a plan to increase the wheat production to not only meet the requirements of the domestic market but also turn Pakistan into an exporter of the commodity.
According to Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, the farmers would be given incentives for the next wheat crop.
A monitoring mechanism has also been put in place to check inflation of three essential items i.e.
sugar, flour and ghee and the Prime Minister would soon address the nation to explain the steps his Government was taking and also expose the wrongdoings of the last Government.
The Government has also lived up to its commitment of ensuring uninterrupted supply of electricity throughout the country from the beginning of May 2022.
Minister for Energy, Khurram Dastgir Khan, while briefing media-men after the cabinet meeting, said load-shedding was only being done in feeders where the bills are not being paid and, except for them, there was no load-shedding in the country.
There are serious issues like mounting circular debt, injection of Rs.
100 billion during the next six months to ensure sustainable power supply and pressure from the IMF to go for a substantial hike in power tariff and hopefully these issues would be sorted out with the passage of time.
As there have been consistent complaints of a discriminatory attitude in respect of supply of power to urban and rural areas, the Prime Minister has given directions to develop a new energy policy and maintain balance in load-shedding with regard to urban and rural areas.
The Cabinet also expressed serious concern over ‘constitutional violations’ committed by the President and (former) Governor Punjab Omar Sarfraz Cheema and instructed the Law Ministry to formulate steps to prevent such violations in future.
This is imperative for the smooth working of the system and prompt resolution of the grievances of the people.
