During the federal cabinet meeting held at the Parliament House on Friday, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was left mum after facing a rare criticism from his cabinet minister when MQM’s Babar Ghauri advised the PM to shun lavish spending and rather adopt austerity measures to curtail the budget deficit.
A source present in the cabinet meeting said when the PM asked how expenses could be curtailed, the MQM leader said there was a need for the government to control its spending to plug the budget deficit and the PM should set precedence in this regard.
“All foreign trips, stay in five-star hotels by delegates accompanying the prime minister abroad and holding of lavish ceremonies in the name of launching projects in various ministries should be banned forthwith,” the source quoted Ghauri as telling the prime minister.
The source also quoted Ghauri as saying that the PM should also not spend further on the Prime Minister’s House and the amount should be allocated to some other useful project. “However, it was Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khursheed Shah who responded to the objections made by Ghauri, saying it was necessary for the chief executive of the country to visit friendly nations for lobbying in national interest and sell his plan to the world community,” the source added. The source said Shah, however, proposed the PM not to push for his plan to turn the PM’s House into a state-of-the-art institution. “Shah said that this might be done through a proper and well-conceived project and due to the sensitive location of the PM House, it could not be turned into an institution for the public,” the source added.
The source said Shah also quoted the claim made by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif about turning the CM’s House into a women’s university.
“Though the CM Punjab had claimed to turn 7-Club Road Lahore into a women university, there are around seven more CM Houses, as all buildings from 1-Club Road to 8-Club Road are being used by Shahbaz Sharif,” Shah said.
The source said though the prime minister did not respond to the objection made by Ghauri, he told the meeting that he was determined to make a state-of-the-art institute of the PM’s House, as around 61 acres of land was available inside the premises near Barri Imam’s shrine.
SALARY RAISE: The source said tough the politicians made tall claims about their commitment to the salaried class, it was only Khursheed Shah and Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan who urged Gilani during the cabinet meeting to ensure a significant raise in salaries of the government employees keeping in view the skyrocketing inflation in the country.
The source said the government’s finance team had put forth two proposals in the cabinet and it had proposed 10 percent raise in salaries of the government employees. “When pressed by Khursheed Shah for further hike in the salary raise, finance minister said that inflation had hiked 11.3 percent during the last year and the government may give same raise in the budget,” said the source.
He said Shah said inflation had actually risen of 30-35 percent and urged the prime minister not to go by the figures mentioned by the Finance Ministry.
“It was Firdous Awan who said the prime minister should not to go by the recipe proposed by ‘babus’ of the Finance Ministry and must allow a significant raise in the salaries. Referring to the minimum wage announced by the federal government of Rs 8,000, the minister said nobody could make a household budget in Rs 8,000 and it reflected that the ‘babus’ did not understand the problems of the common man,” the source said. The source added that it was none other than the prime minister who then announced a 20 percent raise in salaries of government employees and said an 11 percent raise would be peanuts. “The prime minister said he had given 50 percent raise in year 2010, and then gave 15 percent raise in 2011 and was now announcing 20 percent increase keeping in view the current inflation,” the source added.
Mr PM, please avoid foreign trips, lavish lifestyle!
