Muhammad Asad
ISLAMABAD: The government has fulfilled the promise made by Prime Minister Mian Shehbaz Sharif to end load-shedding in the country by May 1, and the government will have additional resources of Rs. 1 billion to overcome load shedding in the summer. It was shared by the Federal Minister for Energy, Khurram Dastgir during a post-cabinet meeting press briefing along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriym Aurangzeb in Islamabad
on Tuesday.
While briefing the media about the decisions taken by the federal cabinet in today’s meeting Marriyum said that the recent visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, was not based on grants or aid but on a comprehensive vision is being transformed for development, growth, and employment for the people of Pakistan through a well-thought strategy and a UAE delegation had visit Pakistan in this regarding during the Eid days.
According to her, the government is taking various steps to control the inflation in the country and the Prime Minister had instructed the Minister for Food Security and Research to work on boosting crop yield, particularly enhancing the production of wheat in the coming season.
She said that the cabinet has approved the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) regarding the cabinet regarding prices of wheat flour and sugar in the country which were set by the ECC as wheat will be sold for Rs. 800 per 20 kg and sugar will be available in the market for Rs. 70 per kg from today onward.
She informed the media that the government has banned the holding of more than one foreign passport by the Pak nationals under Passport Act- 1974.
According to her, the government is preparing a framework to end this practice which is likely to complete by December 31, and the last date for voluntary submission of foreign passports will be December 31, 2022.
She noted that the government will seize additional foreign Passports at the beginning of the next year.
According to Marriyum, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and senior leadership of PML will visit London to meet former Prime Minister and PML-N Supremo, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to discuss political matters and economic issues relating to the country.
Information Minister told the reporters that the cabinet has approved the appointment of Fawad Asadullah Khan as Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB), while Mr. Mohammad Masood has been appointed as Director Wah Ordnance Factory Board.
According to her, the government has accepted the resignation of former Chairman WAPDA, Lt General Muzammil Hussain and a member of the Finance Division will be handed over the additional charge of Chairman WAPDA until the appointment of a permanent head of the department.
She said that the cabinet also accorded approval to the appointment of retired Admiral Salman Ilyas as Managing Director (MD) Karachi Shipyard Engineering Works.
While briefing the media regarding the decisions of the Federal Cabinet regarding the availability of electricity and load-shedding, the Federal Minister for Energy, Khurram Dastgir said that the public was witnessing 8-10 hours per day of load-shedding when he assumed the charge of the ministry on April 26.
Khurram claimed that he and his team have fulfilled the promise made by the Prime Minister to end load-shedding by May 1, however, there is a lot to be done to completely abolish the menace of load-shedding from the country.
He accused the former government of PTI for its inability to the procurement of oil to utilize the available capacity of the system for the production of 5800 MW of electricity the national use, while the system producing 1300 MW of electricity was lying idle due to maintenance work.
Khurram said that the Prime Minister has advised the ministry for the formulation of a new energy policy to aid further energy generation capacity in the grid to full fill the national requirement for the next ten years.
