The Railway minister Sheikh Rasheed said in a federal cabinet meeting on Thursday that the meetings sometimes went on for over five hours and demanded that either food be served in the meetings or the ministers be allowed to bring their own lunch to the meetings. Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, who earlier banned serving lavish lunches in the cabinet meetings responded by saying that the ministers needed to go on a diet instead. The government had discontinued the practice of serving lavish lunches as part of its austerity campaign. Published in Daily Times, December 21st 2018.