Jeevay Pakistan Jeevay Muqami Hakoomat (JPJM) Chairman Daniyal Aziz said on Thursday it was ironic and deplorable that Pakistan, the fifth poorest country of South Asia, has a cabinet of 96 ministers and advisers that spent Rs 90.7 billion during the last four years.
In a statement, he said the statistics for the lavish spending of the ministers during the last four years, were stunning as compared to other countries of the region and continents.
He stated that China, with a population of 1.33 billion people had 14 ministers, India had 32, the US had 14 and the UK had only 12 ministers in its cabinets.
“A total of 2070 air tickets were issued to the federal ministers and their advisers, while each of them gets Rs 100,000 monthly for cell-phone and telephone expenses,” he said.
He added that nearly Rs 62 billion were spent on the ministers’ salaries alone, apart from the 38.4 million free units of electricity provided to them.
He said “The JPJM is also trying to estimate the expenditures for the ministers’ free residences in hotels and other places, which would also be in billions of rupees.”
Condemning the government for its anti-people policies, he said the government had burdened people through mini-budgets and increase in the electricity tariff, gas and petrol prices, instead of cutting down its own expenditures.
“As many as 53 per cent of Pakistani people are living below the poverty line as a result of the government’s policies,” he added.
