Cabinet approves privatisation of 46 entities

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved privatisation of 46 entities, abolishment of four departments and hand over of four others to the provincial governments.

The cabinet was given briefing by Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain regarding the reorganisation of government departments. The cabinet approved the proposals regarding various ministries and departments. His committee recommended complete privatisation of 16 entities and privatisation of shifting of the capital of 30 other entities to Pakistan.

The cabinet also approved empowering of the committee formed to investigate the sugar crisis under the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry, 2017, while the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will also be part of it.

The committee on investigation into certain matterswill also have the mandate to form special panels, as Prime Minister Imran Khan asked for early completion of the probe and submission of the report in next meeting of the cabinet.

The forum met with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair. The meeting had discussions on various matters, including the national economy and energy issues. It was decided that the next cabinet meeting will have threadbare deliberations on energy-related matters, as a mess was left by the previous governments in terms of costly power and gas agreements. The prime minister called for mid-term and long-term mechanisms on this count.

Briefing media persons about the cabinet decisions, Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the prime minister also directed for deliberating upon the performance of the Competition Commission of Pakistan, which was supposed to award penalties and do away with cartels but why it acted like silent spectator.

She said majority of the cabinet members called for early making public the report on sugar crisis. However, the DG FIA sought more time, saying that on spot forensic verification and audit was crucial prior to finalisation of the report. The cabinet, she noted, gave legal justification to the committee to carry out its work.

The prime minister made it clear to the cabinet that such mechanism should be thrashed out to exposing the black sheep and making them an example for others, ridding the system of mafias forever. To this effect, the DG FIA will present a roadmap to the prime minister today (Wednesday).

Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh shared a roadmap on oil prices. The prime minister asked for a legal and economic mechanism for provision of relief to people, whenever there was a space available for that. He directed the Ministry of Finance to bring a roadmap in this connection on which work was already underway and the adviser on finance would soon share it with the prime minister.

In view of risk of dengue fever, Dr Firdous noted that the government of Punjab had sent a summary for import of dengue vaccine and other insecticide from India, but the cabinet rejected the summary, as New Delhi continued with its policy of oppression on the Muslims in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and India as well. The prime minister directed for import of the same from other countries.

The cabinet also barred export of items, related to coronavirus, including face masks. Replying questions, she said that progress on removing the reservations of the MQM-Pakistan was shared with the prime minister who had to visit Karachi but had to cancel his trip owing to bad weather. However, she was confident that the MQM-P would soon be back in the federal cabinet. She added that GDA was also PTI’s third allied party and the issues of Sindh and Karachi could not be resolved by a single party.

She noted that the national economy had showed resilience as well as Pak rupee while currencies of many countries had crashed along with their stock markets, but Pakistan’s stock exchange faced temporary difficulties to recover.

Referring to the PML-N leaders meeting and criticism of the government’s economic policies, she hit back by alleging that when the PML-N government tenure ended, the national economy was left on a ventilator and because of this, masses threw them out of political system. She also charged that the talk of mid-term elections by the PML-N leaders was aimed at appeasing their ‘customers’, with whom, they had their business, which had suffered. “It is their desperate bid to support their sinking political boat,” she remarked. Without naming another PML-N leader, she alleged that his use of foul language was reflective of his “gutter mentality”.

During the meeting, the prime minister directed for uniform pay scales of the government employees to avoid discrimination and disparity. Dr Firdous said the premier assigned the adviser on finance to hold talks with striking employees and also work with central and provincial governments to remove this disparity and both should send proposals to cabinet so that sense of deprivation among employees is removed. She maintained that the people had high expectations from this government and all steps would be taken to ensure it.

Dr Firdous said the cabinet was briefed on the coronavirus situation in the country. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari and Special Assistant on National Health Dr Zafar Mirza apprised the cabinet of their talks with parents of Pakistani students in China and steps taken for their welfare.

The issue of testing services for jobs in various government departments was also discussed by the cabinet. Adviser on the Establishment and Special Assistant on Social Welfare have been asked to devise a course of action regarding testing in government departments, so that candidates for the posts of grades 1 to 5 are facilitated in term of fee as well.

The cabinet approved resignation of Chairman BOI Zubair Gilani who gave it on personal reasons. The cabinet was updated on the progress so far regarding the report on the shortage of flour and sugar. It was informed that details will be received after a week.

The prime minister was informed of the public interest initiatives of various ministries. Dr Firdous noted that the 51.9 percent cabinet decisions had been implemented, while the remaining were in the phase of implementation.

The cabinet discussed the quota of Islamabad residents in various government jobs and decided that 50 percent quota will be reserved for domicile and CNIC holders of the federal capital in various public sector jobs in grades 1 to 15 and this quota will be applicable for jobs based in Islamabad.