Ministers, Ministers for state, special assistants won’t draw salaries: PM

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that all ministers, ministers for state, special assistants and advisors voluntarily decided not to take salaries.

The Prime Minister said that they would also pay their all utility bills and all luxury vehicles would be withdrawn.

“All security vehicles will also be withdrawn from the ministers and a committee headed by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah will decide the security protection in case of any serious threat,” said the PM while addressing the press conference on Wednesday.

He said that they would also travel in the economy class and the assistants would not be allowed to travel with them.

He also announced that they would not stay at luxurious five-star hotels while senior officers of secretary level would make changes in their budget.

In the federal government, he said, no new unit or block would be made while single treasury account would be made.

He also urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan, all other chief justices in the provinces and provincial governments to adopt treasury measures.

“The ministers could only do mandatory visits,” said the PM. The PM said that inflation would further go up and the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be finalized.

Talking about Thoshakhana gifts, the PM said that the gifts less than Rs80,000 could be retained while the gifts of more than Rs80,000 would be kept in Thoshakhana reference.

Answering to a question about the saving through this policy, the PM said that Rs200b would be saved annually.

He also announced that the officers would not be allotted more than one plot from now on under this policy.

He said that the poor always suffered since the beginning and the powerful elite did not pay heed what they should have.

The PM said that millions of people and children across the country were suffering due to poverty as they could not afford ‘free treatment’.

He said once there was a time when the treatment used to be free for the common people.

“Rs40b has been set for the poor amid the deal with the IMF,” said the PM while quoting Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. He vowed to take up further steps to provide relief to the people.

“We debated in our cabinet meeting that there will be problems in coming days but I’m optimistic that we will steer this country out of crises,” said PM Shehbaz, adding that they were making collective efforts in this regard.

He said that he always said that collective efforts were the way forward for the betterment of the country. Shehbaz Sharif said that in the mini-budget, the government tried to provide relief to the poor masses.