The federal government must announce Rs 15 billion financial package for each province so that the federating units could arrange food and other necessary items for the poor people. This was stated by the chairman of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao.
Expressing concern over the absence of any prior plan to create awareness among the people about the spread of the coronavirus, Sherpao said that Covid-19 outbreak was an international issue, and, therefore, the government and other stakeholders, including the political parties, must devise a joint strategy to deal with this issue.
According to a statement issued from Watan Kor here on Monday, he said that all the political parties must rise above the political divide to fight this pandemic. Voicing concern over the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country, he said the government should make a joint national action plan to stem the spread of this deadly virus.
He stressed that measures should be taken to minimize the effects of this disaster on the economy besides providing maximum relief to the people, particularly those belonging to the downtrodden segments of society.
The QWP leader urged the government to provide maximum relief to the people by fixing the POL products' prices at Rs 60 in the wake of the record decrease in rates of petroleum products internationally. He said the government should also consider giving relief to the people in gas and electricity bills as measures put in place to defeat the coronavirus had hit the people economically.
Aftab Sherpao stressed that the government should provide testing kits to the provinces in addition to arranging protective gears and other necessary equipment, including ventilators, for hospitals.
He added that the testing kits should also be made available to the district headquarters hospitals. He also stressed the need for ensuring the availability of food items in the market. The QWP leader asked the government to provide April salary to the government employees in advance.