|
|
|
| September 2, 2005 | Friday | Rajab 27, 1426 |
Demand to withdraw POL price increase
PESHAWAR, Sept 1: The Muttahida Labour Federation of Pakistan has called upon the government to withdraw the recent rise in the petrol and diesel prices and take steps to reduces ratio of unemployment in the country.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, the MLF president Gul Rehman said that increase in POL prices had become a yardstick for ascertaining the level of price hike in the country.
“Everything revolves round POL prices which have been regularly increased. The government has never announced any decrease in the prices, even when it declined in the international market,” he added.
He said the forcible closure of industrial units and import of consumer goods had destroyed the national economy, but the rulers were making no concrete efforts to create jobs for unemployed people.
He said the increase in the POL prices had resulted into an increase in transport fares, which was unaffordable for the lower and middle classes and the working class.
He said 52 per cent people were constrained to live below poverty line while the rulers were trying to paint a rosy picture of the economy.
The government, he said, collected 80 per cent of taxes from people, but didn’t spend enough money on their education and health-care.
Mr Rehman alleged that the government was being run on the dictates of the IMF and World Bank, which had turned economies of under-developed countries into markets for multi-national corporations, controlling the resources of the entire world.
The government had failed to initiate even a single housing scheme for the low-paid public sector employees in the county. On the other hand, dozens of housing authorities had been launched for security forces personnel, he added.
He demanded of the government to control the growing ratio of inflation, which would ultimately result into price-hike.
|
|
|
|
