ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the provincial governments to control the increasing prices of essential food items.
Chairing a weekly review meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday regarding prices of essential items and their availability across Pakistan, he also directed the administration of Utility Stores Corporation to ensure sufficient availability of essential items.
The prime minister advised the Ministry of National Food Security to complete the estimates of kitchen items like wheat and sugar while keeping future needs of the country at the earliest so that advance arrangement can be ensured.
He directed all provincial chief secretaries to ensure implementation on the price list daily, which requires an active and effective role of the administration. He said prompt action should be taken against officers in case of any negligence.
Briefing the meeting about Consumer Price Index, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that CPI was recorded as 5.7 percent in January this year, which was 14.6 percent during the last year. He said prices of sugar, eggs, and onions witnessed a downward trend, while rates of wheat flour remained stable. The meeting was informed that the difference between wholesale and retail prices shows the failure of market committees.
Keeping this in view, the meeting decided to immediately dissolve existing market committees in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is in power, and their responsibilities will be assigned to the concerned district and tehsil administration till the constitution of new committees comprising competent people through a transparent process.
The meeting also decided that action will be taken against the concerned Assistant Commissioner upon failing in strict enforcement of price lists. The meeting held a detailed discussion on the steps taken in light of the sugar inquiry committee and to control prices of the sweetener.
It was decided that the installation of cameras in sugar mills should be expedited. Besides, the Federal Board of Revenue will provide detail of the tax collected from sugar mills to provincial governments to make the tax collection mechanism transparent.
The meeting was apprised that an 84 percent surge has been witnessed in sugar sales tax collection in the current fiscal year as a result of effective measures taken by the FBR.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has disposed of 2,174 cases involving tax amounts of over Rs250 billion in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (Q2FY21).
According to data released by the FBR, 934 tax cases have been disposed of by high courts and the SC with the revenue involved amounting to Rs81.7bn in the last quarter (2QFY21), while 1,240 cases with the revenue involving Rs168.5bn were decided by the Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue during the same period.
وزیرِ اعظم نے اجلاس سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ بنیادی اشیاء کی دستیابی کو یقینی بنانے کے ساتھ ساتھ مناسب قیمتوں کو یقینی بنانا حکومت کی اولین ترجیح ہے۔
وزیرِ اعظم نے یوٹیلیٹی اسٹورز انتظامیہ کو ہدایت کی کہ تمام اسٹورز پر بنیادی اشیائے ضروریہ کی وافر دستیابی کو یقینی بنایا جائے۔
— Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) February 3, 2021
