PM announces withdrawal of tax on CNG

[LahoreEstate]

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced on Thursday withdrawal of carbon tax on compressed natural gas (CNG) and asked the finance ministry to make transparent the mechanism of its collection on petroleum products.
In a reply to severe criticism by members during the budget debate in the National Assembly, the prime minister admitted that levying of tax on CNG would burden the lower middle class.

Earlier, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmakers staged a walkout after they were not allowed to speak on the electricity breakdown in Karachi.

Shipping Minister Babar Khan Ghauri led the walkout after he was obstructed by the chair from speaking on a point of order on the breakdown.

He warned that riots could erupt in Karachi if the government did not intervene.

Mr Ghauri said it would be difficult for his party to remain in government if the subsidy on electricity was withdrawn.

The Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, said a storm had led to a massive tripping of the electricity system, resulting in huge breakdowns which had now been overcome and supply had been restored.

PML-N’s Khawaja Asif said the government had failed to combat insurgency and revive the economy, while President Zardari was trying to settle a score with the opposition over the movement for the restoration of the judiciary by telling the Sindh government to take a tough stand on the hijacking case.

He said former president Pervez Musharraf and former Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro should be tried for defaulting on electricity bills.

‘If this attitude continues, we will be constrained to reveal details of Farooq H. Naek’s deliberations on blanket cover to Mr Zardari under the National Reconciliation Ordinance,’ he said.

He said the Transparency International’s report about the spiralling cost of corruption was shameful.

Discussing the budget, he said the accumulated losses of Pakistan International Airlines, the Railways, Pakistan Steel Mills and Pakistan Electric Power Company were far more than the defence budget.

Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan of PML-N raised aspersions about the claims of success in the military operation in Malakand, suggesting the speaker to send a monitoring team of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security to the area.

He warned that the situation in Balochsitan was similar to what had been experienced in East Pakistan.

Marvi Memon of the PML-Q alleged that DAP fertiliser had become unaffordable for farmers because its price had increased to Rs2,787 per bag, while it was Rs993 when her party was in power.

She said manufacturing of cars had dropped to 63,084 per annum from 179,814. She accused the government of recruiting PPP ‘jialas’ in all departments by disregarding merit. She alleged that party loyalists were being recruited in place of 650 candidates who had been declared eligible for lecturers’ posts by the Public Service Commission.

Ms Memon alleged that prices of essential goods had increased three-fold and the Water and Power Development Authority’s failure to utilise funds under the Public Sector Development Programme had resulted in massive loadshedding.

Chaudhry Barjees Tahir said that while Rs70 billion had been allocated for the Benazir Income Support Programme, Rs134 billion was being withdrawn in the shape of subsidy on electricity.

Former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao criticised what he termed overdependence on foreign aid in the budget and said a sprawling Rs722 billion deficit would be met by borrowing.

He said the huge losses incurred by the PIA, the Railways and Wapda were eating into national resources and the problem needed to be addressed to bring the economic situation under control.

Amir Muqam of the PML-Q complained that genuine displaced people were being denied registration.

http://www.dawnnews.net/wps/wcm/connect/...+cng-za-08