Culprits behind sugar,flour crises in Cabinet: Siraj-ul-Haq

LAHORE:Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Siraj-ul-Haq on Sunday alleged that the culprits behind sugar and flour crises were in PTI government’s top ranks.

The JI had been demanding the Prime Minister look for the culprits of sugar and flour scam in his own cabinet. It was time that those who doled out public money to the capitalists, feudal lords and bureaucrats in the name of subsidy and permits should be held accountable as top priority, he said in a statement from Mansoora on Sunday.

Siraj-ul-Haq said it was now imperative on Prime Minister Imran Khan to put culprits in the dock, recover the looted public money and distribute the same among the poor suffering the lockdown. He alleged that prime minister had not implemented his announcement of providing survival allowance and rations to the poor despite lapse of 20 days.

He demanded the PTI government immediately control the prices of food and essential commodities, ensure their supply, pay the educational institutions fee for the next three months, waive internet charges for students for at least three months, waive property and excise taxes for one year, subsidise utility bills by Rs2,000 for March 2020, and all taxes and levies should be waived in utility bills for next four months, and abolish the bank interests.

Siraj demanded the prime minister that coronavirus test be made free-of-charge, and the government should pay the test fee to the private labs. He said the doctors and health staff performing duties at front lines should be immediately provided protective dress, equipment, masks, double salaries for at least three months.

He said instead of raising the Tiger Force which would prove a heavy burden on public exchequer, the data about the poor should be compiled with the help of Nadra and mobile phone companies, and relief goods be distributed at their doorsteps with the help of teachers and census department staff who had been well-trained, experienced and can perform this task without raising doubts of misuse and corruption.

Siraj said all the workers registered in the social security department should be provided relief through their respective institutions, while the relief amount and goods can be distributed through mosques and Zakat committees at the street level. He demanded that a parliamentary committee should be established to monitor the relief activities, while a national action plan should be chalked out with the help of political leadership, health experts and the Chinese experience of containing corona virus.

He warned that preventing the vitally needed funds from embezzlement and misuse was solely the responsibility of the PTI government.

checkING: Police continued setting up more than 200 special pickets in different areas of the City to stop people from unnecessary movement.

More than 105,800 citizens have been checked at the pickets till now since the lockdown, whereas, more than 97,500 people were asked to contain their unnecessary movement in the City and go back to their homes. Around 1,413 FIRs were registered against persons involved in violations of Section 144.

More than 3,360 citizens who were found moving unnecessarily in the City were released after taking warranty bonds from them. As many as 88,868 vehicles, including 52,178 motorcycles, 16,143 cars, 13,586 auto-rickshaws, 2,224 taxis and 4,737 bigger vehicles, were stopped on pickets and vehicles owners were issued warnings on unnecessary movement in the City.