JI blasts govt for not giving relief to masses

PESHAWAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) provincial president Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan has criticised the government for not lowering the prices of electricity and not giving relief to the masses after the historic low in the prices of petroleum products in global market.

In a press statement issued here on Saturday, the JI leader said that the government was earning Rs 56 in just one liter of petroleum. The government deceived the masses in the name of reduction in the prices of petroleum products, he said. He added that the government on the one hand reduced the petroleum prices but increased levy on the product due to which the people could not get enough relief. Similarly, the power producers were also not giving any relief to the masses after the decrease in petroleum prices, he said. “When the prices of the products are high, burden is put on the people in the name of fuel surcharge in electricity bills. But now when the prices are at the lowest ebb, no relief is given to the masses,” he said.

Mushtaq Ahmad Khan maintained that like sugar and flour mafias, the petroleum and power mafias were busy in making money with both hands. He said that according to national bureau of statistics price-hike showed 11.22 percent increase during the last 10 months. “The government has failed to have any control over the market during the holy month of Ramazan and the prices of daily items went out of the purchase power of the common masses,” he added. During Ramazan, the prices of pulses went up by 66 percent, gas 55 percent, eggs 44, onion 41, sugar 27 percent and so on. He further said that the government should take immediate action to bring the prices of daily items under control.