The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, on Wednesday, directed Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to procure essential food items in the earliest to provide timely relief to people in the holy month of Ramazan. This was deliberated upon in a meeting held in Islamabad with Finance Minister Asad Umar in the chair.
A four-member Committee was also constituted under the chairmanship of Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to oversee the implementation of Ramazan Package.
Minister Umar spoke on the occasion and asserted the government was determined to phase out the supplementary grants in the future budgets. The budgetary needs of many organisations had not been properly assessed at the time of preparation of budget estimate last year, which was leading to many demands for supplementary grants, he added.
The minister emphasised the need for proper budgeting of the financial needs of various departments.
The Committee reviewed proposals of various Ministries/Divisions and also considered and approved various demands of Division Ministries for Supplementary and Technical Supplementary grants. The Industries and Production Division appraised the Committee over the status of Ramazan Package. Ministry of Petroleum presented on the implementation of the Committee’s decision regarding the utilisation of services of Pakistan Railways for the transportation of petroleum products across the country. Railways ministry noted it had the capacity to carry higher volumes and would work with the ministry of petroleum to explore further possibilities.
The ECC also approved, in principle, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting’s proposal for a media campaign to disseminate information on initiatives, such as Poverty Alleviation, Sehat Insaaf Scheme and PM’s Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme. Members of the committee also directed the Ministry of Finance and National Bank of Pakistan to extend the maximum facilitation to the USC in this regard.