Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Wednesday said that the government has taken numerous measures and will continue its efforts to ensure provision of essential commodities to the people at reasonable rates before and during the holy month of Ramazan.
He was talking to Chief Ministers of NWFP Akram Khan Durrani and Balochistan Jam Mohammad Yousuf who called on him at the Prime Minister's House here. The Prime Minister said the network of Utility Stores was being expanded at a rapid pace all over the country and the supply of essential commodities was also being increased to keep their prices under control in the open market before the advent of Ramazan.
Shaukat Aziz said a ministerial committee on Core Food Inflation has been formed to propose administrative measures to keep the prices of essential commodities particularly wheat and flour under control. The Prime Minister said the federal government would continue playing its role in carrying out development projects including provision of gas, electricity, clean drinking water and construction of roads and bridges all over the country.
He said the government believes in provision of equal facilities and opportunities to the people throughout the country to improve their standard of living. He said the federal government and the governments of NWFP and Balochistan were co-operating closely so that safety and security of the people could be ensured.
Talking about Balochistan, he said that the government was working to bring stability, development and growth in the province and had adopted a holistic approach for the development of the province by simultaneously undertaking comprehensive political and economic initiatives.
The Prime Minister said the government was focusing on providing employment opportunities to the youths of Balochistan and their quota in federal jobs had been raised to six per cent.
The government has also initiated training programs in various technical fields to enable them to take maximum benefit from the jobs created for them, he said. Shaukat Aziz asked the government of Balochistan to immediately provide compensation to the affected people of Mirani dam in Turbat.
Expressing his views on Vision 2030, the Prime Minister said that it was a historic programme that aimed at completing socio-economic transformation of the country and envisaged a developed, industrialised, prosperous Pakistan through rapid and sustainable development in a resource-constrained economy by deploying knowledge inputs.
On the request of Akram Khan Durrani, the Prime Minister gave approval for one-year extension in Malakand Rural Development Programme. He also agreed on the installation of telephone exchanges in three Union Councils of Chitral. Chief Minister NWFP told the Prime Minister that the provincial government plans to set up Sasta Bazaars in all major cities. In addition to this, he said, price magistrates would also ensure that prices in the open market remain at reasonable level.