After reasonably increasing the price of electricity and natural gas recently, the government has announced a massive hike of Rs 19 per liter in the petroleum prices for the next 15 days.
The Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced this price hike of the petroleum products by taking the plea that the price in the international market was increased. He showed the government’s compulsion which is bound by the standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund(IMF) to impose the levy on the petroleum sector.
The PDM led government is about to leave the affairs as it has only 10 days left to complete its constitutional tenure and the country is getting prepared to move towards next general elections, which might be held within the maximum time of 90 days as prescribed in the constitution of the country.
Despite the fact that the government is getting cheap petrol from Saudi Arabia and Russia from the international market, it was not ready to pass on its effect to the people. Now even when it is about to leave the rule, they while going, are bumping the nation as the last jolts.
It is a matter of great concern that the PDM led government did not take care of the people at all, as on one side the country was near to default, and on the other hand it maintained the highest members of cabinet throughout its tenure of almost 16 months. At present the numbers of federal, state ministers, parliamentary secretaries have crossed the century mark. The cost of their salaries, travelling and daily allowances, their hospital bills, their extravaganza parties and protocols on these 100 ministers excluding the chairmen of the standing committees comes to billions of rupees per month that is being paid by the state, which could be saved by adopting austerity measures.
It was an alliance composed of 13 political parties and each party in the government demanded its due share. At present , at least five main leaders of the political parties including Asif Ali Zardari, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Marriyam Nawaz are enjoying the status and protocol of head of the state, which also costs billions of rupees in addition to the country .
The Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif only made a hollow lip service of adopting austerity measures but as a matter of fact the extra expenses, protocol, pomp and show of the 100 plus ministers, was paid by the national exchequer. There were almost 10 to 15 days in every month, when exclusively lavish dinners and lunches were hosted in the high-class luxurious restaurants by the prime minister, or ministers in which thousands of guests including foreign diplomats were invited on each occasion at the cost of taxes collected from the poor people of the country.
The PM Shahbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the nation several times during their 16-month term in the rule, that the government was taking hard decision but imposing more and more taxes on the people, which in actual is not a difficult decision ,rather it was very easy decision to let the people to swallow “bitter pills” each time. The real difficult decision was the reduction in the numbers of ministers , which the government had no courage to take.
It would have been a really hard decision if the government had been announced that all the federal and provincial ministers, MNAs, MPAs ,top bureaucrats and member of apex judiciary would bear the cost of electricity and petrol from their own pocket without involving a single penny form the national exchequer like a common man instead of putting additional burden of taxes on the already inflation trodden people.