PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif has renewed the commitment of the Government to reduce dependence on loans and instead focus on curtailing the government expenditure. Speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural and ground-breaking ceremony of eight communication and energy sector development projects in DI Khan on Tuesday, he said a comprehensive plan of the Pakistan Green Initiative has been undertaken to take the country to new heights of development and prosperity.
The coalition Government inherited the most challenging situation as the country remained at the verge of a virtual default throughout the last one year but credit goes to the leadership for evolving prudent policies to overcome the crisis. A ban on import of unnecessary items was part of the strategy adopted by the Government to save precious foreign exchange besides austerity measures announced by the Prime Minister aimed at reducing wasteful expenditure. Unfortunately, the ban on import of luxury items had to be reversed at the instance of the IMF and austerity measures were not implemented in letter and spirit, depriving the country of their true potential benefits. No one would differ from the PM when he lays emphasis on curtailing expenditure but one fails to understand why there is no effective ban on unnecessary foreign visits, medical treatment abroad at the expense of the state, unabated misuse of official transport despite receipt of hefty car allowance by senior officials and free electricity and gas for privileged ones. There is also a tendency on the part of some institutions, especially the higher judiciary, to decide their own pays and allowances at rates much higher than other departments, which is not only against financial discipline but also causes resentment among general employees of the Government. The authorities also announced several measures to conserve energy but these too remain unimplemented mainly because of non-cooperation by the business community and weakness of the Government to establish writ of the state. It has also become a fashion to talk frequently about so-called poverty alleviation programmes and significantly enhance allocations for them without carrying out an honest assessment of their real impact on the lives of the poor. There is absolutely no justification to continue to dole out hundreds of billions of rupees annually on such programmes without progress towards the goal of helping the poor stand on their own feet. The Government should re-prioritize its financial allocations and expenditure, allocating more on programmes and projects that could offer some relief to the masses like improvement and upgradation of the faulty transmission system that results in an annual loss of 400 billion rupees, the burden of which is added to consumers.
