Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Punjab President Mian Manzoor Wattoo has said that the indiscriminate subsidy on hundreds of items as a part of Ramadan Package for all and sundry will not serve the purpose and as such will not make difference to down trodden for providing relief to them.
In a statement issued Thursday, Watoo demanded that the subsidy should be targeted and for those who were the poorest of the poor and were badly hit by the unprecedented surge in the food inflation during the first year of this government.Wattoo urged the government that it should provide subsidy to those only who were recipients of the cash assistance under Benazir Income Support Programme because its authenticity and reach had been very well verified by the third party of international standing.
Wattoo pointed out that there was no use of putting hundreds of items of daily use in the package adding that the list should be slashed keeping in view of the needs of the poor people. He said that the government must evolve a mechanism dedicated to serve the poor people adding that the hoarders and the middle man generally succeed in cashing on the bad management that was responsible for the implementation of the package.
The PPP Punjab president said that the subsidised items were generally available in the open market for sale with the connivance of the administration, and the loopholes should be plugged to stop the pilferage with stern warning that culprits would not be spared come what may.
Wattoo said that his party will keep close vigil on the execution of the Ramadan Package to deny the crooks the opportunity to swindle the people they were notorious for. He also demanded that the network for the disbursement of the subsidized items should be stretched out right across the province so that the rural population of the province was not denied from the likely benefits if there were any.