Kamyab Jawan Programme: Disbursement of loans approved by cabinet

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has accorded its approval to disbursement of Rs315 billion loans to farmers and youth under the Kamyab Jawan Programme in the current fiscal year.

This was stated by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad during a media briefing on the decisions taken by the cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday.

The minister said that under the Kamyab Jawan Programme four million people would be targeted and details of the programme would be shared by the Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, with media later. He added that the federal cabinet was also given a briefing on the overall economic situation and on macroeconomic indicators.

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The meeting was informed that inflation has declined; however, the current account deficit has been increasing primarily because of the increase in domestic investment and expansion of businesses.

He said the meeting was further informed that credit to private sector has increased to Rs489 billion against Rs75 billion last year, which reflects expansion in investment.

He said that last year the current account deficit was $1.9 billion.

The government has allowed duty-free import of 61 Covid-related items, the minister said, adding that the federal cabinet was informed that machinery imports have increased 11 percent and LSM growth was recorded at 14.6 percent, whereas, foreign exchange reserves and exports were all time high.

At the outset of the meeting, Fawad said the prime minister was told about the arrival of 23 Pakistanis from prisons in Saudi Arabia.

So far, he said that hundreds of Pakistanis, who were languishing in prisons for petty crimes in jails of various countries, have returned.

The minister said the prime minister has special affection for overseas Pakistanis and had suspended the entire staff of Pakistani Embassy in Saudi Arabia for improperly treating Pakistani prisoners and punished them after investigation.

He said the prime minister was also briefed about latest progress with respect to electronic voting machine.

He maintained that the government was trying to engage with the opposition on electoral reforms and one meeting of the senate committee has already taken place and was also engaged in back-door channel with the opposition through the Office of the Speaker.

Fawad said that the AJK Prime Minister was in power during the recent elections of AJK and exercising all powers including use of funds, yet when his party lost election, he began to level allegations of rigging in the elections.

Likewise, he said, the PTI had lost by-elections on 10 seats but when it won one election of provincial seat in Sialkot, the PML-N started making allegations of rigging and wanted to know what other solution to the problem was available other than electoral reforms to define a system in democracy.

The government and the opposition have to take position on big issues to settle them once and for all he said, adding that the government has proposed 29 points for electoral reforms and if the opposition does not agree to them then it should propose its own points for reforms.

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The minister termed the Shehbaz Sharif offer for cooperation with the government “welcomed one” and stated that the government would talk to those in the parliament and not with those who are sitting abroad, adding that Nawaz Sharif, Altaf Hussain, and Maryam Nawaz have no right to lead their party.

The prime minister, he said, directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to protect the green areas of the federal capital and any construction in the national park would not be tolerated.

The federal cabinet was also briefed by the chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) regarding the removal of encroachments in sectors, E8 and E9 in Islamabad, the minister shared.

Chaudhry said the prime minister issued “strict directives” regarding the protection of green areas in the capital. “The navy and air force have been told to remove encroachments,” he added.

The prime minister ordered action to remove encroachments by “powerful people”, he said, stressing that the government would “not allow any occupation” of land.

He said that forces have been asked to take their boundaries behind the green areas and the action was also taken against encroachment by PTI’s Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, who is a member of the AJK legislative assembly.

The minister said that the federal cabinet has also allowed extradition of Mujahid Pervez to the US who was wanted in fraud and corruption cases.

He said that there are allegations of corruption and fraud against Mujahid Pervez and this was proved by the investigation conducted by the additional deputy commissioner and he was being handed over after investigation.

The minister said there is an extradition treaty between the US and Pakistan.

Talking about the Covid situation, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan was informed that 35 percent of the eligible population in Rawalpindi and Peshawar had been vaccinated, followed by Faisalabad at 28 percent and Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Sargodha at 27 percent.

While blaming the Sindh government’s“poor governance” for the “worsening” Covid-19 situation in Karachi and Hyderabad, he said the percentage of vaccinated people in the two percent cities was low compared to the rest of the country.

NNI adds: The Minister said about four million youth will benefit from the initiative to establish their own businesses that would result in strengthening the country’s economy.

He said young journalists will also be included in this programme.

The Minister said the Chairman CDA informed the Cabinet about the actions against the encroachments in Sectors E-8 and E-9 of Islamabad. In this regard, the Prime Minister directed to take every possible step for restoration of green areas in Islamabad.

He said Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar briefed the Cabinet about current energy situation in the country. It was informed that load shedding during the months of June and July this year increased due to high demand and bad distribution system as previous governments did not focus on this sector.

The Information Minister said Federal Cabinet also gave approval to fix cotton support price at 5000 rupees per forty kilogram.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021