Pakistan paying price for saying 'absolutely not' to world: Fawad Ch

Dunya News

Fawad Ch said the income of farmers has gone up by Rs 11,00 billion

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said that Pakistan Television (PTV) incurred a loss of Rs 250 million following the cancellation of cricket series against New Zealand and England.

Addressing a press conference after federal cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said that Pakistan will have to pay a price for saying “absolutely not” to the entire world.

The minister said that it would be wrong to say that the income of people in the country has not increased but the income of farmers has gone up by Rs 11,00 billion and the income of a labourer has also increased.

“There is shortage of labour in the textile industry,” he said and added the income of 70% of the population has increased significantly, while the government is introducing subsidies for the poor.

Chaudhry said the federal cabinet has approved 44 percent increase in the house rent ceiling of government employees. He said house rent ceiling of government employees is revised every three years and the PTI government has taken this step to provide massive relief to the federal government employees from Grade-1 to 22.

The minister further said the cabinet approved inclusion of Uzbekistan to Business Visa List under which Pakistani embassy in Tashkent can issue multiple visas for five years to the business community. He said it is a step forward to strengthen business and trade relations between the two countries.

He said import and exhibition of regional countries movies have also been allowed to revive cinema and film industry in Pakistan. He said Canadian Punjabi movies and films from Iran and Turkey will be exhibited in Pakistani cinemas. He said the government is providing incentives to cinema houses and a massive relief is being given to the film industry on taxes.

The information minister said that Pakistan s polio eradication efforts have yielded positive results and only one case has been reported in last seven months, which is a great success against polio. He expressed the hope that Pakistan is on the way to become a polio free country.