Nawaz wants all parties, institutions to take decisions jointly

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) President Nawaz Sharif has suggested that all political parties, governments and institutions of the country should take decisions together to provide relief to people.

Chairing the PMLN party meeting at the party’s Central Secretariat in Model Town Lahore on Saturday, Nawaz said in order to get the country out of economic crisis and give relief to people, all political and government leaderships and institutions should take decisions with consensus. The meeting decided to continue negotiations with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman after the religio-political party leader met the N-League’s top leader this week.

Addressing the participants, Nawaz reiterated that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s faulty policies had pushed the country and public into the depths of inflation. He said high electricity bills due to PTI government’s policies had become unbearable for people, and they were looking toward the PMLN governments for relief. The federal and provincial governments should cut their expenses and provide resources for maximum relief to people, the former prime minister said and asked PM Shehbaz Sharif to introduce austerity measures across the country. Nawaz claimed the PMLN was the only party capable of providing relief to people in these challenging times. He said stabilising the economy was among PMLN’s priorities. “We will do whatever it takes to ease the burden of electricity bills and strengthen the economy.” He noted that while relief has already been provided to residential consumers, the party was seeking ways to assist the industrial consumers as well.

In the meeting, the country’s political affairs and relief to electricity consumers were discussed. A briefing was also given on the new local government system in Punjab. Sources said the participants agreed to hold the Punjab local government elections in the last week of October this year. The meeting also discussed the overall political and economic situation and measures to provide relief to people. The meeting also discussed the recent wave of terrorism in Balochistan and PM Shehbaz briefed the party president on the issue.

The premier also took the party president into confidence on various discussions and said that efforts were being made to create financial capacity for public relief by getting rid of loss-making institutions. Addressing the meeting, Nawaz said the PM was working with great effort, passion and full capacity in difficult economic conditions.

CM Maryam informed the party president about the measures taken to provide relief to the public in electricity bills in Punjab. She congratulated the party president, and said she wanted every citizen of Pakistan to get quick relief from inflation. Nawaz said Maryam and her team deserved congratulations.

Separately, Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb Saturday issued details of Rs14 per unit relief in the electricity bills, saying it had started reaching consumers using 201 units to 500 units of electricity monthly. She said mega relief had been provided to 3,516,877 electricity consumers of five electricity companies of Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Islamabad.

Marriyum said that 840,000 electricity consumers of LESCO had been provided relief besides 653,883 consumers of MEPCO, 506,139 consumers of FESCO, 731,305 consumers of GEPCO and 785,550 consumers of IESCO. She said PM Shehbaz Sharif provided mega relief of Rs50 billion to electricity consumers using 1 to 200 units of electricity monthly. She said consumers using 1 to 200 units of electricity would be provided free solar system, while consumers using 201 to 500 units would be provided interest-free solar system on easy installments.

The party meeting was attended by PM Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shehbaz and other central and provincial leaders of the party.