ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered Passco to comply with the cabinet’s Nov 4 decision and lift one million tons of paddy from growers.

A cabinet meeting held on Wednesday took note of complaints about paddy procurement and decided to form a committee formed by the prime minister to review implementation status. Mr Gilani directed the Ministry of Women Development to take fast track actions for women’s welfare.

Earlier, the ministry gave a presentation to the cabinet about its activities and future plans.

The cabinet was informed that the primary objective before the ministry was to bring about improvements and change in the lives of women through gender mainstreaming, good governance and elimination of discrimination against women, and to reduce their vulnerabilities by changing the mindset of the society through advocacy, awareness, education and gender-balanced policies and programmes.

According to APP, it was observed that all ministries and government organisations were engaged in development activities but people were not being informed about them.

The cabinet decided to undertake a public outreach exercise to share government activities and initiatives with the people through the press and media.

The meeting agreed to treat equally fixed-line and cellphone operators and provide a level-playing field to the private sector in the telecom sector.

It asked the Ministry of Information Technology to submit a proposal to the prime minister for a decision on utilisation of funds in this regard.

The cabinet approved MoUs signed with China for water resource management, implementation of the Kohala hydroelectric power project and technical cooperation.

The cabinet formed a committee to look into matters concerning compensation for victims of camel races in the UAE.

A committee was constituted to look into details of the draft of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Bill of 2009 and asked it to resubmit the draft for approval.

The cabinet put off the discussion on a proposal for two weekly offs and austerity measures because of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin’s busy schedule.