ISLAMABAD - The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved establishment of centralised database to ensure timely decision-making on basic food commodities in the country and to further strengthen cooperation between the federal and provincial governments in areas of supply and demand, pricing and transportation of essential commodities.
In this regard, the federal cabinet also approved proposed law to make sure availability of food items in view of demand and supply all over the country equivalently.
Federal Cabinet meeting held here on Tuesday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in chair at Prime Minister House.
Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed briefed cabinet meeting regarding status of negotiations between the government and banned Organization Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Hussein Chaudhry said that martyred police officials who embraced martyrdom following the protests of TLP members could not be forgotten.
The cabinet meeting was also informed that Twitter accounts responsible for fanning violence during last four days in wake of TLP protests were being operated from India.
At the beginning of the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan called for early completion of electronic voting machines and the process of giving the right to vote to expatriate Pakistanis.
The meeting was also briefed on the progress made so far in this regard.
The prime minister and the Cabinet was also briefed on the progress of the talks with Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The Cabinet approved delegating certain powers to the Strategic Export Control Division so that it could take timely decisions in ensuring effective implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1,540 on the export of nuclear and biological weapons-related equipment and technology, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction with objectives to effectively implement Pakistan’s commitment.
The Cabinet approved the trans-shipment of certain containers from Karachi to Kabul on request of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and UNICEF. The Cabinet also approved MoU with Iran for setting up border markets on Pak-Iran border.
The Federal Medical Teaching Institute Ordinance 2020 has been implemented by the President of Pakistan in various institutions to improve management and efficiency of the Federal Medical Teaching Institutes and their adjoining teaching hospitals.
These Institutions include Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, National Institute of Child Health Karachi, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Karachi and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. In this regard, the Federal Cabinet approved appointment of Board of Governors of these institutions and the names of the members of Board of Governors for National Institute of Child Health Karachi Dr. Ahsan Rabbani Prof. Dr. Wasim Qazi, Aamir A Allahwala, Board of Governor for National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Karachi, Dr. Hasnat Muhammad Sharif Justice Sarmad J. Usmani, Hassan Aziz Bulgrami Board of Governors for Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center Karachi, Dr. Imtiaz A. Hashmi, Prof S Tipu Sultan Board of Governors for PIMS Islamabad
Muzammil Rashid.
The federal cabinet also approved appointment of Khalid Hamid as Chief Executive Officer of National Insurance Company.
The Cabinet approved appointment of Zaheer Abbas as Managing Director Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal. The Cabinet approved the inclusion of consumer representatives in the Board of Directors of ten electricity distribution companies. These representatives will be from civil society.
The decisions taken at the March 31 meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms were approved.
Dr. Ishrat Hussain briefed the Cabinet on the area of the federal capital, working methods, manpower of various departments and ministries and also present the recommendations made by the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms to bring this number to a logical level.
The Cabinet was informed that at present 9,50,000 employees are working in the federal government. In the year 2019-20, 565,000 employees were working in secretariat and attached departments while 390,000 employees were working in autonomous, semi-autonomous and corporations.
The Cabinet was informed that 95 percent of the 955,000 employees are Grade 1-16 employees whose salaries cover 80-85 percent of the total expenditure. Officer and staff ratio is 1:20 while in Secretariat it is 1:6.
The Cabinet was informed that the number of government employees was 829,000 from 2010-11 to 2016-17 while 137,000 employees were suddenly recruited in one year (2016-17). Eighty-five percent of these recruitments were made in the Secretariat and attached departments of the federal government, while 21,000 recruitments were made in autonomous institutions.
The Cabinet was informed that the present government had so far saved a total of Rs. 28 billion in its efforts to rationalize the number of government employees. In this regard, it was decided that after e-filing and e-office system, the target of bringing the rate of officers and staff to 1:3 would be ensured in a phased manner.
Decisions taken in the meetings of the Economic Coordination Committee on 07 and 14 April 2021 were also endorsed.
Earlier, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Hussein Chaudhry said that legislation will have to be made for usage of electronic voting machines.
Fawad also condemned use of undignified words by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for Speaker National Assembly. He said that parliamentarians should practice polite behaviour in the parliament.
He said that opposition has been waging war to take control of Islamabad.