Daily Times

The Senate was informed on Friday that there is no plan to close the operations of Utility Stores Corporation (USC). Minister for Industries and Production, Rana Tanveer Hussain told the House during the Question Hour that restructuring of the Utility Stores Corporation is underway to make it more viable in terms of business and its day to day operations. The Minister said that during the restructuring, the rights of the utility Stores’ employees will be properly safeguarded. Responding to a question, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal informed the House that a total of 200 PSDP projects are underway in Balochistan, with an estimated cost of 1429 billion rupees. He said an amount of 130 billion rupees has been earmarked for these projects. Ahsan Iqbal stressed on the importance of improving the administrative capacity of provinces for better service delivery of funds and resources after allocations. Responding to a question in the House, Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik said inflation rate is decreasing every month due to effective measures of the government. He said that prices of major food items and essential goods have also decreased as prices of Wheat flour came down over 35 percent, Petrol 23.5 percent, Hi-speed diesel 22.5 percent, Chilies powder 20 percent, electricity charges decreased by 13.5 percent, sugar 12.7 and cooking oil prices slashed by 10.3 percent as compared to the previous year. In his remarks, Minister for Industries and Production, Rana Tanveer Hussain said the government is formulating a policy to promote the usage of Electric Vehicles which will be unveiled during the current month. He said the government has identified places for establishing forty charging points at motorways to facilitate the electric vehicle users. The Minister said that the Engineering Development Board has issued fifty one assembling and manufacturing certificates to produce two and three wheeler Electric Vehicles in the country. He also informed the House that thirty-one Electric Vehicles manufacturing companies have applied for the licenses to produce four wheelers. Responding to a Calling Attention Notice moved by Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik informed the House that the government is taking steps to control the inflation. He said the State Bank has reduced the interest rate to 13.5 percent. He said it is expected that the interest rate will be further decreased which will ultimately facilitate the industrial sector and common man.