ISLAMABAD – Federal Cabinet has decided to observe the office timings from10 am to 4 pm during the holy month of Ramazan to provide maximum relief topeople observing fast without compromising their productivity.
Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the Cabinet meeting in Islamabad today.
Later, addressing a news conference along with Minister of Water ResourcesFaisal Vawda this afternoon, Special Assistant to Prime Minister onInformation and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said a special committeehas been assigned the responsibility to prepare a Ramazan package toprovide maximum relief to the masses. She said the committee will also makesure that no load-shedding is done during the holy month.
Firdous Ashiq Awan said the cabinet was taken into confidence regarding theproposed local government system in Punjab that will be modeled on the onealready implemented successfully in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
She said the new local government system will devolve the powers at thegrass root level and empower local people.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information said cabinet discussedin detail five legislative bills that will help people resolve theirproblems as part of people friendly agenda of PTI government.
She said Enforcement of Women Property Rights bill will ensure women gettheir due share in inheritance. Amendments in Code of Civil Procedure willhelp decide the civil cases swiftly. Similarly, the Succession Certificateswill now be issued by NADRA and heirs can get these within a fortnight,saving their precious time and hassle.
Firdous Ashiq Awan said Whistle Blower Protection bill will also beintroduced to provide protection to whistleblowers regarding corruption invarious public institutions.
She said an Anti-Corporal Punishment bill will also be tabled soon in theparliament to discourage the physical punishment and abuse at schools.Special Assistant to Prime Minister said a bill named Zainab Alert willalso be introduced to stop child sexual abuse.
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Firdous Ashiq Awan said the cabinet also discussed OGRA’s recommendation toincrease the prices of petroleum products by 14 rupees per litre.
The Prime Minister directed to send this recommendation to ECC to review itin order to pass minimum burden to the people.
The cabinet also decided to hold audit of the 1300 billion rupees circulardebt in order to determine who is responsible for this increase, and thefacts will be presented in next cabinet meeting.
Firdous Ashiq Awan said the previous Punjab government left a debt of 100billion rupees, besides the bounced cheques of 80 billion rupees. However,due to good governance and austerity measures taken by the incumbentgovernment, a saving of 100 billion rupees has been made at the federallevel.
The Prime Minister directed to ensure that austerity steps are implementedat both federal and provincial levels.
Special Assistant to PM said the cabinet was also taken into confidence onvarious initiatives taken by Task Force on Institutional Reforms in variousinstitutions.
Firdous Ashiq Awan said the cabinet congratulated the Prime Minister on hissuccessful visit to China and signing of important agreements onsocio-economic development, free trade and agriculture.