RAWALPINDI: President Ayub today [April 20] reiterated his Government’s determination to break up concentration of wealth and ensure equitable distribution of national resources which belonged collectively to the nation. Addressing the Ministers and civil and military officers, the President declared that relief for the common man should be the keystone of government policies. He warned against over-bureaucratisation, over taxation and over-centralisation in matters of day-to-day interest.

Strongly urging decentralisation of the Administration and the delegation of more and more responsibility to the people, the President declared: “The only way to get the people to learn to shoulder responsibility is to bring them face to face with reality.” In this context the President recalled the great success achieved in the Rural Works Programme through delegation of responsibility to the local leadership and called for more of such decentralisation which, he said, got us best results. President Ayub said certain measures of inflation were inevitable as a result of the massive development programme but it was incumbent on the Administration to ensure the people basic necessities of life at reasonable prices.

The President did not favour the imposition of price controls at the retail level because of the difficulties of enforcement but felt that the Government should determine the policies of production and marketing. The other practical measure he suggested was the setting up of green belts around all major centres of population.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2015

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