ISLAMABAD: Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed said on Thursday that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden visit to Sri Lanka this week cost the national exchequer far less than those of previous rulers.
Setting a new example for austerity and simplicity, he said the prime minister continued his tradition of saving millions of rupees of the national exchequer in line with his austere measures.
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“The prime minister’s Sri Lanka visit cost the national kitty just $34,000 as compared to past rulers squandering public funds on such visits like water,” Murad Saeed claimed. “Back in 2016, Nawaz Sharif spent $276,000 on a Sri Lanka trip,” he revealed.
Besides, the minister said the prime minister has cut his office’s expenses by 49 per cent from Rs552 million to Rs180 million. He maintained the incumbent government is carefully spending public funds that, he said, are a sacred trust.
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Prime Minister Khan didn’t use discretionary funds and did away with the practice of cash rewards, he said, adding the exchequer was looted in the name of gifts and tips in the past.
Murad Saeed said former president Mamnoon Hussain used millions of rupees from discretionary funds while Nawaz Sharif turned his personal Raiwind residence into a camp office with a whopping Rs2 billion spent just on its security and Rs270 million on fencing of the house.
