Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday that government was not running away from elections and no suggestion of postponing the elections was under consideration.
Briefing media after federal cabinet meeting, Kaira said the Sub-Committee of the Cabinet on Balochistan also presented its interim report on Wednesday after holding consultations with different stakeholders in Quetta‚ Karachi and Islamabad. He hoped that the Committee would finalise its recommendations before the next meeting of the Cabinet.
Reacting on Sheikh Rasheed’s statement, he said that political leaders must avoid abusive language.
He added that Sheikh Rasheed was a politician who had no public support therefore wanted to ride on others carts.
Kaira said Sheikh Rasheed’s language against the president was unbearable and the government knew how to make him silent.
He said the meeting was told that the process of regularisation was on-going. He added that services of contract and daily wages employees appointed in the past had been regularised irrespective of which Government hired them.
The federal cabinet was informed on Wednesday that the government had so far regularised the services of about thirty thousand contract and daily wages employees.
Its meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf.
The meeting was also briefed about power situation and the steps taken to mitigate the problem.
It was told that in the first twelve days of August last‚ the electricity generation was 14274 MW whereas it was 14306 MW in the comparable period this year.
He said presently the day time electricity production is 13250 MW which increases to 14300 MW in the evening. Hydel production during day time is 5000 MW and 6100 MW in the evening due to extra releases of water from dams after its storage during day time. Power generation by Gencos is 1900 MW‚ IPPs 6300 MW and 600 MW by Chashma nuclear power plants.
He said second nuclear power unit that had developed some fault would become operational this evening as a result of which 300 MW would be added to the system.
The prime minister constituted a committee comprising secretaries of Ministries of Water and Power; Petroleum and Natural Resources and Finance to hold daily meetings to consider issues facing the power sector and resolve them. It would regularly update the prime minister and the cabinet on the progress and the relevant information would also be shared with the people.
The prime minister also decided that an exclusive meeting of the cabinet on water and power sector would be held after Eid to review the steps so far taken and formulate a futuristic strategy.
The cabinet was informed that inflation has come down as compared to 2008-09. The Consumer Price Index has come down from 20.8% in 2008-9 to 9.6% now; food inflation from 23.7% to 9.1%‚ non-food inflation from 18.4% to 10% and core inflation from 17.4% to 11.3%.
The cabinet noted that inflation could come down further if provincial governments activate their price control mechanism and take action against profiteers and hoarders.
The meeting also noted that prices of onion have increased by 11.5% and that of tomato by 11.34% but hoped that the situation would improve with the arrival of new crops from KPK and Balochistan.
A comparison of prices in Pakistan‚ India‚ Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was also presented before the cabinet and it was noted that prices of some items like wheat‚ rice‚ sugar and petrol were on the lower side in Pakistan. Prices of fertiliser and diesel are on the higher side because other regional countries were offering more subsidies on them.
The information minister said Pakistan was also offering huge subsidies in different sectors. Subsidy worth 464 billion rupees was given on electricity last year; 26 billion rupee on fertilizers; two and a half to three billion rupees on items through Utility Stores under Ramadan Package besides cash grant being provided under Benazir Income Support Programme. The country is also selling gas at the one third price of the international market and its monetary values would come to billions of dollars.
The cabinet approved draft of the Equity Participation Repeal Bill 2012.
It also gave approval for start of negotiations with different countries for increasing cooperation in different sectors.
Replying to a question, the information minister said elections would be held on time and the PPP was not scared of polls.
To another question, he said legislation was under consideration to make public assets of all those who draw salaries from the national exchequer.