PESHAWAR – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Tuesday vowedto take drastic measures, including curtailing expenditure on the VVIPculture, to overcome the enormous economic challenges being faced by thecountry.-
Addressing members-elect of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly here, ImranKhan said a committee would be constituted to review the expenditureincurred by the offices of president, prime minister, ministers and otherhigh dignitaries, and suggest austerity measures.
The savings through curtailing expenditure of the offices of very veryimportant persons (VVIPs) and other departments would be spent on thepeople’s welfare, he added. The PTI had not come into government to rulebut to serve the masses, he added.
The country, he said, was facing the worst financial crisis which it hadnever witnessed since its inception. About approaching the InternationalMonitory Fund for loan, Imran Khan said the PTI government would take anydecision in that regard after thorough deliberations.
“We have to do away with traditional politicking and set a better exampleof good governance within limited expenditure,” he said, as otherwise thepeople would not forgive the PTI expressing their anger with more severitythan the previous regimes.
He said there would be discretionary fund for any minister for execution ofany scheme as his government would rather do legislation for elimination ofthe same.
Imran Khan said in today’s world nothing could be kept secret from thepeople and the elected representatives would have to remain careful andcautious while running the government affairs. “Having fear from theAlmighty, we will have to work round-the-clock for the public welfare,” headded. The PTI chief said former KP chief minister Pervez Khattak hadrun the government in very difficult circumstances and deliver. The partyworkers would have to be vigilant for good governance by their government,he added.
He said selection of the chief minister and ministers was hisresponsibility and he would do that job purely on merit.
The ministers, he said, would be given targets of their respectiveportfolios and held accountable through a proper mechanism.
They would have to reach their offices by 9 am positively, he said andadded the PTI government would not disappoint the people as far as itsslogan of making a `new Pakistan’ was concerned. Change, he said, could notbe brought without sacrifices. The parliamentarians would have to set anexample by being honest and doing hard work in performance of their jobs,he added.
“We have to do more work in reforming police, education, health and localgovernment as we have to change this country in the coming five years,” hesaid. – APP