ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Sunday said that despite the politics of conspiracies, sit-ins and long marches by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government did not created any hurdles to stop them.
Talking to a private news channel he said, PDM was a bunch of politically unemployed persons who shut down power looms in Faisalabad in their tenures making a large number workers jobless, while the PTI government restored the power looms and created employment opportunities.
He said although government was trying level best to minimize the impact of global inflation on poor people which was directly affecting prices of various commodities especially oil products, yet, Pakistan's economy had witnessed growth due to prudent policies of the government.
He said that petrol prices suddenly jumped from 35 dollars to 85 dollars per barrel and it was impossible for the economy of the country to bear the increase.
"However, we are trying to control the inflation on sustainable basis and in this connection, long term policies are being implemented to enhance the export with diversification", he said.
He said the price of coal had increased from 50 dollar per tonne to 250 dollars per tonnes while price of edible oil had risen from 500 dollars per tonne to 1200-1300 dollars per tonnes at international market. At the same time, the charges for container shipping were also increased from 2000 dollars to 8000 to 10,000 dollars, he added.
Replying to a question he said, despite all these odds, the PTI government tried its level best to provide every possible relief to the masses. In this connection, talks were also underway with the owners of ghee mills to bring down the prices of ghee for which the government was also ready for appropriate reduction in taxes and levies, he added.
The State Minister said the government would soon introduce food support programme Ehsaas cards to 12 million poor families, that would directly subsidize on food items.
Similarly, farmers were being provided Kissan cards to get maximum food production and to meet agricultural needs by getting direct subsidies, he said and added that from November, health cards would also be issued, that would also provide up to Rs 1 million annually for treatment. Farrukh Habib said the farmers had witnessed bumper sugarcane crops and that would help to reduction in sugar price in the country.
About increase in power tariff, he said the government was forced to increase electricity prices as previous governments had set such a trap for the people where we had to pay electricity price whether we purchase it or not.
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