Low income groups be protected at all costs: PM

  • October 3, 2013, 7:39 pm
  • National News
  • 114 Views

Islamabad, Oct 3 (Online): The Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, Thursday, instructed that low income groups should be protected at all costs while fixing prices of oil and gas and petroleum products.

He added that almost 70% of power was being produced by using expensive furnace oil and only 30 % from hydel and using inexpensive fuels.

He said this while speaking at a meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar here at PM’s House who briefed Prime Minister him on the electricity tariff rationalization.

The Prime Minister stressed that low income groups must be protected at all costs. He added that almost 70% of power is being produced by using expensive furnace oil and only 30 % is produced from hydel and using inexpensive fuels.

The minister finance said that 67% of the total domestic users consume up to 200 units of electricity per month who are fully protected from the recent tariff. He further said that the national exchequer has incurred heavy losses by not rationalization the tariff in the
past.

Ishaq Dar said that the government is paying Rs. 167 billions subsidy to protect the domestic users, at the present.