Cabinet orders reversal of roti, naan price

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday chaired a meeting on gas tariff for tandoors and prices of roti and naan, expressing displeasure over the increase in their rates. He directed reverting the prices of roti and naan to the previous level.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said Prime Minister took strict notice of the increase in the price of bread and directed raising the issue in the ECC meeting. He said the government was taking special measures to reverse the price of bread, keeping in view the factors responsible for the increase.

Awan told journalists after the cabinet meeting that the federal cabinet had deliberations on how to improve the lives of common people, including providing free legal aid to the underprivileged prisoners languishing in jails. She said the prime minister directed the ministries to give proposals for facilitating the common people. It was the cabinet’s 52nd meeting and this year’s 37th.

Awan said the PM formed a committee to improve conditions in jails and collect data of destitute prisoners, including juvenile prisoners languishing in jails. She explained the committee would give recommendations for jail reforms agenda and the government would provide free legal assistance to such prisoners, adding the government would finalise the jail reforms in collaboration with the provincial governments. The cabinet, she noted, appreciated the chief justice of Pakistan's efforts towards clearing the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and desired that it would be replicated in the lower judiciary (district level) as well. She said the cabinet also appreciated the chief justice for establishing Model Courts.

She said the cabinet gave approval for the establishment of the National Road Safety to reduce accidents and improve travelling on highways and motorways. The cabinet approved establishment of the National Commission for Protection of Children Rights. She said the cabinet approved separation of Services and Regulation Departments in the Civil Aviation Authority and decided to improve facilities at airports. The cabinet decided to take immediate measures for the people affected by recent heavy rains in Karachi and Hyderabad, expressing concern over thelosses and difficulties being faced by the public.

Awan said the cabinet expressed commitment to continue efforts to widen the tax net while appreciating the measures taken by the Federal Board of Revenue in this regard and increasing the number of tax filers.

About JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s threat to the government, she alleged he was fulfilling his personal agenda in the garb of religion. She said seminary reforms were introduced to impart modern education along with religious education to seminary students. She claimed that with the passage of time, Maulana Fazl would lose support. Maulana, she continued, was getting restive, like a fish, as he enjoyed living in the Ministers Enclave for 15 years and wanted to live in that era again.

She said the cabinet offered Fateha for the martyrs who embraced Shahadat in terrorist incidents in Waziristan and Balochistan and Tuesday’s plane crash in Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, in order to improve governance and service delivery of certain division/ministries, Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit (PMDU) after detailed deliberations has devised a composite tasking document containing proposed interventions; with timelines, in the shape of targeted institutional interventions. By implementing these interventions, it is hoped that the federal ministries/divisions and their attached departments will be able to improve service delivery across their domain. The document carries specialised tasks which are to be achieved on the basis of time-based deliverables (3 months/6 months). Ministries will be at liberty to incorporate their own in-house initiatives, which they can complete within 3-6 months and share those with the PMDU within one week. The achievements of these targets would be one of the parameters to gauge the performance of the ministries/divisions.

The tasking document has been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Planning, Power, Petroleum, Aviation, IT & Telecom, Federal Education and Professional Training, Ministry of National Health Services & Coordination and Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development. The prime objective of this initiative is to bring ease in the life of common man.