Daily Times

LAHORE: Opposition in the Punjab Assembly (PA) on Tuesday came down hard on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government for sending a new summary for increasing prices of petroleum products despite low rates in the international market.

Terming the increase in petroleum prices “injustice with the poor masses” who have already been crushed by high inflation in the country, the opposition said that a new floodgate of price hike would be opened through this step.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed and another party colleague and vocal member in the House Nabila Hakim Ali on Tuesday submitted two separate resolutions against the government’s decision to increase petroleum prices.

In both the resolutions, the opposition members suggested the PML-N government in the centre not to increase the petroleum prices, as they were already high as compared to the international market rates, which would add to the miseries of the poor masses.

The opposition leader said in his resolution that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had made a plan to put burden of petroleum prices on the poor masses by increasing petrol and diesel prices in the country, and for this purpose, it had forwarded a summary to the government.

He demanded the government through this House that the prices of petroleum products should not be increased, as such a decision of increasing prices would enhance inflation and put additional financial burden on the poor people.

PTI legislator Nabila said in her separate resolution that the rates of petroleum products were already high and the poor masses were being looted, so the federal government must avoid increasing these prices further.

Separately, a legislator of the PTI, Ahmad Khan Bhachar, also filed a resolution about the issue of “smog” in the Punjab Assembly Secretariat on Tuesday, in which he demanded the government that it should take action against the industries, factories and vehicles that were involved in spreading pollution in the province. He also urged the government that it should also take action and punish the public officers of the Environment Protection Department who have proved their negligence to stop the pollution.

It is pertinent to mention here that treasury member Hina Pervaiz Butt had also filed a separate resolution against the incident of abusing a 16-year-old girl in Dera Ismail Khan and demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of the PTI to arrest the culprits involved in the incident.

Published in Daily Times, November 1^st 2017.