Senate told govt should approach IMF or impose new taxes

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* PM’s Secretariat minister in-charge says taxation only way to handle situation

* Salim Saifullah suggests govt reduce non-development expenditure

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Upper House of the Parliament on Thursday informed that the government alone has been unable to handle the devastation caused by the recent floods, and the only way was either to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or impose more taxes.

Winding up the debate on the situation arising out of the recent unprecedented and devastating floods in the country, Prime Minister’s Secretariat Minister In charge Ghazanfar Ali Gul said that the floods had directly affected 20 million people and the government was committed to their rehabilitation.

He said that the floods hit the areas from the north of the country to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh adding that a total of 1,800 people had been killed and 2,900 wounded due to the natural calamity.

“No government can handle the situation alone, even the US would have been unable to cope with the situation alone in such natural calamities,” he said adding where should the government go if it does not approach the IMF or impose taxes. Gul said that taxation was the only way out to handle the situation, which was applicable in the entire world.

Giving details of the devastation, he said that the floods in Punjab had affected 1,711,956 acres of cropped land, 45,660 houses were fully damaged while 464,154 were partially damaged. At least 3,641 schools and education facilities were completely destroyed. While in Sindh, 2,578,129 acres of cropped land were affected. 7,507 villages were affected and 1098,720 houses had been damaged, he added.

Gul said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 912,999 persons had become IDPs, while a population of 660,000 remained inaccessible. He said that 507,423 acres of cropped land had been affected in the province, adding that 885 education facilities, 169 health facilities and 178 government buildings had been damaged during the floods. Over 191,215 houses, 500 shops, 282 roads, 278 bridges, 23 culverts were also damaged in the province, he added.

In FATA, he said 20,264 hectares of cultivated land had been damaged, while 4,361 houses were destroyed and the loss of 16,147 animals and 74,974 poultry were also reported from the area.

Earlier, taking part in the debate, Salim Saifullah criticised the imposition of new taxes and suggested that the government should reduce non-development expenditure instead of further taxation.

Professor Ibrahim said that the devastation caused by the floods had been unprecedented and needed unity among political parties and coordination among federal and provincial governments.

Sajid Hussain Zaidi said that a commission should be constituted to determine the causes of flood devastations, and it should also identify how to distribute relief items to deserving people.

Ismail Bulehdi demanded an inquiry into the breaches of embankments of the Sindh River from the wrong places. He said an impartial commission should be constituted to find out the causes of flood devastations and fix it in a proper manner.