Daily Times

State Minister for Information & Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said on Sunday that multiple steps taken by the PTI government would lay a strong foundation for a true Islamic welfare state like Riyasat-e-Madinah.

Inaugurating a utility store, he said that it was one of the most neglected areas of his constituency where a majority of people had limited financial resources. “Hence, we inaugurated the utility store to provide subsidized items to the people of the area”, he said. He said the incumbent government was fully aware of the problems of masses and in this connection, Rs 24 billion had been doled out through utility stores corporation during last one year.

About Kamyab Jawan Program, he said that it was a flagship project to involve talented youths in the economic activities. He said that it was first time in the history of Pakistan that banks had agreed to disburse interest-free loans up to Rs 500,000 to the deserving youth. He further said that on the health front, all families in Punjab would get health cards by the end of this year. It will would enable them to get treatment up to Rs 1 million per family during one year, he added. The Stated Minister said that previous rulers had created whirlpool of problems for the people and the government had to pay Rs 1500 billion as circular debt due to high cost of electricity.

He said, “We have now chalked out a comprehensive programme to generate cheap electricity and in this connection, 10 hydle dams are under construction while we are also promoting maximum use of solar energy which will be available at a much cheaper rate”. He said that ten dams would not only generate 10,000 megawatt cheap electricity but also have storage capacity of 13 million acre feet water. He said that people were asking Sharifs and Zardari to give them reply of their loot and plunder but they were hiding their face instead of accepting their plunder which was now hitting hard the poor masses.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had set a unique example of austerity by cutting his personal expenses to minimum. He said that previous rulers were discussing issues at international level through written “Chits” but a bold leader like Imran Khan was explicitly and forcibly projecting the point of view of Pakistan at national and international forums.

Farrukh Habib said the PTI government had worked hard for three years and now time had come to give relief to the masses. He said that all 42 UCs of NA-108 would get latest and state-of the art water filtration plants.

About recent price hike in petroleum products, he said that in Pakistan these products were still at the lowest as the government had passed on minimum burden to the commoners. He said that former finance minister Ishaq Dar had imposed 17 percent petroleum levy during his tenure but we have trimmed it to 5 percent for the benefit of the people.

“A long stockpile of problems had been left for the PTI government but we are trying to resolve these issues so that our future generation could avail from our prudent policies and projects”, he added.