SLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday greenlit the three-week extensionsought by the sugar probe commission in presenting its final report.
A meeting of the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, was briefedon the commission’s probe by Shahzad Akbar, the premier’s aide onaccountability.
According to official data submitted to the commission probing the sugarcrisis — which saw the commodity go scarce in the markets and prices shootup — as many as 24 sugar mills received Rs11.8 billion in freight subsidiesfrom the federal and Punjab governments in 2017 and 2019 combined.
The report had stated that Jahangir Tareen, a close aide of the primeminister and a senior leader of the PTI, along with federal minister KhusroBakhtiar’s brother, benefited the most from the hike in sugar prices inJanuary. Another major beneficiary identified in the report was MoonisElahi, a senior leader of the government’s ally, the PML-Q.
Today’s cabinet meeting also approved an assistance package for thefamilies of healthcare workers at the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Any healthcare worker, who dies while performing duties related to COVID-19shall be entitled to the same package as is applicable to governmentservants in cases of security-related deaths contained in the ‘ShuhadaaPackage’. It will be applicable in the domain of Islamabad CapitalTerritory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan.
The prime minister, in the wake of the pandemic, has directed to ban theexport of all common edible items. The decision will be reviewed after twoweeks.
The prime minister, in his remarks during the meeting, said the governmentplans to offer state-owned land located in major cities to overseasPakistanis in a bid to generate much need financial resources.
The cabinet ratified the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committeetaken in its meetings held on April 22 and 27.
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While approving the first phase of the Rs 75 billion relief package forlabourers, the prime minister directed his Special Assistant for SocialWelfare Dr Sania Nishtar and Minister for Industries Ghulam Murtaza KhanJatoi, to devise a comprehensive mechanism for providing relief to thelabourers.
Meanwhile, Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafiz Shaikh briefed the cabinetabout the progress made in regulating the affairs of the CompetitionCommission of Pakistan (CCP).
The cabinet approved the appointment of Shaista Bano Gillani as actingChairperson of CPP.
Once the law is enforced, the qualified financial contracts will always besettled on the basis of “netting” in the presence of the nettingarrangement.
Additionally, the cabinet approved a proposal to notify that all thecompanies supplying electricity or gas through distribution or transmissionlines, be members of a Credit Bureau and to furnish information inaccordance with the Credit Bureau Act, 2015.
While approving the allocation for a grant-in-aid from the federalgovernment for journalists and journalistic bodies, especially press clubs,the cabinet tasked Minister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz andSpecial Assistant to PM for Information Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa tofinalise the procedure for disbursement of the grant to the deserving.
The cabinet also approved the modalities for the export of chloroquine byimporters in possession of raw material.
