Those crying about lockdown have stashed billions of dollars abroad: Shibli
Those crying about lockdown have stashed billions of dollars abroad: Shibli
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said that the opposition had only criticized the government but had not given any suggestions. Those crying about lockdown have stashed billions of dollars abroad.
Briefing the media regarding cabinet meeting Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz said that the cabinet has expressed concern on rising price of flour and it endorsed the instruction of Prime Minister to rectify the situation. A committee under Advisor to PM Hafeez Shaikh will monitor and supervise the situation to streamline the process and make it transparent.
Senator Shibli Faraz said the Prime Minister directed to determine the demand and supply of flour on scientific basis. He said 27 million tons of flour is our requirement with availability of 25 million tons. He said Punjab Government has been directed to release 900.000 tons of wheat from its stores to overcome the shortage of commodity. He said steps are being taken to stop smuggling of wheat as well as bringing transparency in its availability.
Shibli Faraz said that the Prime Minister has approved to increase the quality of petrol and diesel up to Euro Five while the sugar pricing system will be operational in three months.
The Minister said this step will bring improvement and transparency in whole value chain of sugar production. He said the process of determining the prices of sugar will be visible in next three months. This will result in provision of the commodity to people at reasonable rates.
He said Federal Cabinet has welcomed the verdict of Islamabad High Court on sugar inquiry case and reiterated the government s resolve to bring the perpetrators to task that made undue profit from people.
The Minister said the federal cabinet discussed and appreciated the performance of Ministry of Education for introducing uniform curriculum in the country. The cabinet discussed the use of online education by utilizing modern technologies in the post-COVID environment. The Prime Minister emphasized on making this facility available in far flung areas of the country, especially Balochistan.
Shibli Faraz said that the health system in Pakistan has never been given attention but the Prime Minister has the determination to fix the health system.
Planning Minister Asad Umar and Special Assistant on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza gave a detailed briefing to the meeting on prevalent COVID-19 situation.
Senator Shibli Faraz said in a short span of time, the laboratories in the country for corona testing have reached to 129 from two. He said the testing capacity has increased to 50,000 tests daily from initial 472.
The Minister said 770 hospitals in the country are catering to the needs of coronavirus patients. He said the number of oxygenated beds available in the country is 8886, of which 2671 are occupied. He said 2150 more beds will be available by next month. He said the government is very clear from day one on how to take steps to overcome the coronavirus disease.
He said Prime Minister s vision from the beginning is to run the economy as well as protecting the lives of people. Senator Shibli Faraz said India and Brazil both suffered immensely due to their extreme strategies to counter the disease. Shibli Faraz said the government adopted the best strategy keeping in view the ground reality to tackle the situation arising out of coronavirus.
He said the meeting gave approval to construction of a teaching hospital in Islamabad.
The cabinet also deliberated on optimum use of the properties of Evacuee Trust Property Board.
Shibli Faraz confirmed that Fawad Chaudhry s interview was discussed in the cabinet meeting. The Prime Minister said that there must be unity in the party, no such thing should be said in the open. He said that Zartaj Gul was elected and she made a mistake as her tongue slipped but we should not make an issue of that.
