July 13, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 16, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, July 12: The federal cabinet on Wednesday decided to follow a loadshedding schedule in the country against the existing unannounced shutdowns to enable citizens to plan their daily lives accordingly.

The cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, was informed that the demand for electricity had exceeded the supply and had made it inevitable for Wapda to resort to loadshedding, often in peak hours.

It asked Wapda to prepare a loadshedding plan for various parts of the country.

Wapda officials claimed that an increase in power supply to Karachi had reduced loadshedding hours in the mega-city.

According to sources, some ministers from Sindh informed the prime minister that power crisis in major cities of the province had undermined their political careers and could have a negative impact on their popularity in the next elections.

The cabinet increased women’s quota in the Civil Superior Services to 10 per cent from the existing 5 per cent.

The meeting directed the Punjab government and Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) to achieve the wheat procurement target without delay to enable farmers to get the minimum price set by the government.

Some participants mentioned growing complaints by farmers in Punjab and Sindh accusing procurement agencies of not paying them the minimum price of Rs415 per 40kg. The food ministry was asked to come up with a mechanism to ensure that farmers get the minimum official price of the commodity.

The prime minister had earlier asked Punjab to increase its wheat procurement target from 2 million tons to 3 million tons. Sindh’s target was also increased from 600,000 tons to 700,000 tons. Punjab has achieved 85 per cent of its target and it is unlikely to procure further. Passco was given a target of 1.3 million tons which the corporation is yet to achieve.

CNG PUBLIC TRANSPORT: The cabinet directed the petroleum and natural resources ministry to expeditiously execute its initiative of converting the public transport vehicles from diesel to CNG.

The meeting called for early restructuring of the Federal Bureau of Statistics and upgrading it to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics so that its figures on economy and other sectors could be recognised internationally.

The issue of controversy on poverty and growth-related figures also came under discussion. It was informed that self-praise would no longer improve the country’s image.

STEEL MILLS: The cabinet agreed to take corrective measures as pointed out by the Supreme Court while annulling the privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills once the detailed judgment was available. The committee observed that the apex court was not against the privatisation policy but had pinpointed loopholes in the PSM’s sale.