Funds worth Rs860.28 million have been allocated for the Prime Minister’s (PM) Office in the federal budget for the fiscal year 2019-20, the Ministry of Finance has said.
According to the proposed allocation, PM Office’s daily expenditure stands at Rs2.36 million (Rs2,356,931) at 365 days a year, which contradicts the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s earlier claims of reducing expenses for austerity.
The proposal to spend over Rs2 million a day from taxpayers’ money comes just months after dozens of cattle and excess luxury cars of the PM House were auctioned to save money.
The development had come after PM Imran Khan, in his first address to the nation on August 19, announced the austerity drive and vowed to cut down on government expenses.
The federal government has approved an additional amount of Rs410 million for the repair and maintenance of two VVIP Gulfstream aircraft said to be in use of President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, The News reported.
The supplementary grant, that comes as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) touts austerity to lessen the burden on the national treasury, was sanctioned in March 2019 by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
It has now been reflected in the budget document for formal approval by the parliament.
The report further said that the Defence Production Division is responsible for the maintenance of these aircraft, however, ECC had failed to resolve differences between Ministry of Defence Production and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) regarding the transfer of said funds.
Directorate General Defence Procurement had purchased the two VVIP aircraft (one brand new and one used) at a cost of $58.55 million ($58, 550,924) in September 2005 on the directions of Ministries of Finance and Defence.
After months of struggle, parents have secured a win over private schools with their owners being barred from increasing fees by more than 5 per cent a year, a private media outlet reported.
According to reports, the Supreme Court (SC) delivered the verdict on Wednesday while hearing a case filed by owners of private schools. They had sought legal approval to increase fees by 15 per cent to 20 per cent every year.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan read out the reserved verdict.
The top court upheld the verdict of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and overturned the Lahore High Court (LHC) decision in favour of the private schools.
The schools have been ordered to return or adjust the extra amount they charged parents since the first ruling in the case.
Senior journalist Hamid Mir has trolled Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda for claiming that “anti-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)” media houses had started liking the government after financial benefits.
Speaking on Mir’s show, Vawda on Tuesday said that media outlets, known for their alleged affiliation with opposition parties, were now highlighting achievements of the PTI government as they had been “provided with ease of doing business”.
“It wasn’t our job, but we fought against lay-offs in the media industry. We made doing businesses easy by giving them [media houses] budgets,” he said.
When Mir asked if he meant the government had paid media houses any money, Vawda agreed, saying the PTI had “paid them against government advertisements”.
It wasn’t later that both Mir and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khurram Dastgir Khan broke into laughter.
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Senior journalists have time and again expressed concerns over the state of Pakistani media ever since the PTI government took reins of the country.
With cuts in government advertisements, a shakeout has been triggered and hundreds of thousands of media workers have gone jobless. Some journalists have also accused the PTI of using “stoppage of government ads to media as a weapon”.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has been spotted dancing on the floor of the National Assembly, in what appears to be an attempt to mock the opposition.
As per the details, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Tuesday presented its first federal budget while members of opposition parties recorded a strong protest against PM Imran.
They raised slogans, held placards and wore black armbands during Revenue Minister Hammad Azhar’s budget speech.
As the minister concluded presenting the budget, the premier was seen being escorted out of the house, waving his hands in the air — suggesting he was least bothered about the ruckus.
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Earlier, a Rs7 trillion austerity budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 was presented by the PTI government. It received severe criticism from opposition parties who termed the budget “anti-people”.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Tuesday announced its first federal budget for the fiscal year 2019-20, which received mixed reactions from people.
It was presented by Federal Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar, who delivered his speech while opposition members protested against Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and his government.
Amid all the confusion over the increase in prices of different products, which may follow the budget, here is a list of stuff The Current suggests you stock up on before an inflation bomb is dropped.
Rooh Afza
That was exactly our reaction. But, a new health tax has been proposed on sugary drinks, which will make it costlier to buy sharbat. It’s not just that though…
Soft Drinks
You heard that right. Those little soft drink breaks during summers will be costing you more now as the health tax will also be jacking up soda prices. The excise tax on soft drinks has been increased from 11.25 per cent to 13 per cent, which is not too much, but will ultimately affect you.
The good part? The money will reportedly be used to provide free medical treatment to people using Sehat Cards that offer treatment up to Rs720,000 from a private or government hospital.
Cooking Oil/Ghee
Branded cooking oil and ghee prices will also be rising as a 17 per cent sales tax will be imposed. You must be thinking that it doesn’t really affect you much, but you never know how it may or may not affect food prices.
The good news, however, remains no increase in General Sales Tax (GST) in case you’re planning to dine out.
Sugar
The price of sugar is expected to increase by Rs3.60/kg since the government is unhappy with the tax collection from the sector. The new budget recommends increasing sales tax on sugar from 8 per cent to 17 per cent.
We don’t endorse the next thing you need to stock up on, but let’s be honest, we know a lot of people who smoke.
Cigarettes
The budget has also recommended a federal excise duty of Rs5,200 on every 10,000 cigarettes be imposed, which means every pack of 20 cigarettes you buy will cost you at least Rs10 more.
Just so you know, tobacco consumption kills nearly 160,000 Pakistanis every year, and a lot of people are supporting the move.
Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed has called Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s close aide Naeemul Haque “sick” for criticising VIP culture and ministers who “have police squads accompanying them”.
“Naeemul Haque is sick. Pray for him,” Rasheed said when asked to comment over PM’s special assistant on political affairs’ remarks during a press conference on Saturday.
Earlier, Haque had tweeted to criticise protocol being used by VIPs and ministers.
“A large number of VIPs and ministers are still promoting VIP culture by having police squads accompany them everywhere,” he had said, adding that it was against the directives of the premier.
A large number of VIPs and Ministers are still promoting the VIP culture by having police squads accompany them everywhere . It is against the directives of the Prime Minister. Police squads are allowed to only those who face a real threat to their lives.This practice must stop.
“Police squads are allowed to only those who face a real threat to their lives. This practice must stop.”
The war of words is being termed as another episode of the tussle that is allegedly continuing between elected and non-elected members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
Elected members, including Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry, have time and again expressed their concerns over the “interference of non-elected members in affairs of different ministries”.
The mystery of Indian Air Force’s (IAF) missing AN-32 transport aircraft has taken a rather comical turn as an Indian anchor has said that “extraterrestrials may be behind its disappearance”.
As per the details, search is still on for the plane that went missing near the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh last week with 13 people on board.
With Indian media starting to criticise the government for failing to trace the aircraft despite using all-out resources, a new theory has claimed possible alien abduction.
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On Saturday, IAF had announced a reward of Rs500,000 to anyone providing information about the missing transport aircraft.
Indian authorities have launched a massive search operation to locate the disappeared plane but to no avail so far.
A meeting of top Indian government officials was disrupted after a pornographic video clip played for at least two minutes at the Rajasthan State Secretariat, Independent reported.
As per the details, the meeting, which took place last week, was being chaired by Food Department Secretary Mugdha Singh at a room in the state government headquarters in Jaipur.
“In the middle of the video conference, an obscene clip started playing on the big screen. I immediately called the director and asked him to probe the matter and give a report on this,” Singh told the Press Trust of India(PTI).
She said that 10 people, including department officials and representatives from the National Information Centre (NIC) of India, were present in the room while some 33 other officers were participating in the meeting through a video-link.
“We were reviewing different schemes when out of nowhere lewd sounds and images popped up on one of the laptops hooked up to the video call,” Singh said.
As the IT team rushed to the meeting room, officials sat red-faced. The initial inquiry revealed that some “privately owned laptops were used for the conference”, PTI reported.
One of the laptops accidentally started playing the clip and the footage was projected on the giant screen until the technical team managed to stop it.
“We’ve launched an investigation into the incident. Whoever is responsible will be found and taken to task,” NIC senior technical director has been quoted as saying.
Ruete Hilal Committee chief Mufti Muneebur Rehman has roasted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government for seeking Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai’s appointment in his place so as to “end the moon-sighting controversy”.
Popalzai is an Islamic cleric and head of the private moon-sighting committee at the historic Qasim Ali Khan Mosque in Peshawar.
With his announcement on Monday that the moon of Shawwal had been sighted in KP and Eidul Fitr will be celebrated on June 4, Provincial Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai suggested Popalzai’s appointment as the moon-sighting committee chairman, replacing Muneeb “to end the controversy”.
“Eid is celebrated on one day all over Pakistan except a certain area of KP. We should stop this from happening. Mufti Popalzai has claimed to have sighted the moon and his claims have proven to be true a few times,” Yousafzai said.
He added that Mufti Muneeb “should be rested for a while and Mufti Popalzai should be made the head of the moon-sighting committee”.
Reacting to the statements, Mufti Muneeb said that Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai can’t be enrolled in the government, but the “government can be given under his control”.
“Then everything that faces delay can be done beforehand. 24 hours before the deadline,” he said.
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“The Peshawar metro project undertaken by the KP government should be given under Poplazai’s supervision so that it can meet timely success,” he said with implied sarcasm.
The federal government has already announced that according to the Met Office, the moon will be sighted in the country on Tuesday and eid will be celebrated on Wednesday (June 5).
