'No free lunch offered': Minister says GIDC waiver in line with govt policy, PM's vision
- By Web Desk -
- Sep 03, 2019
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Power and Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan said on Tuesday the government’s decision to waive billions of rupees of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) was taken to settle a long-standing dispute.
Speaking at a news conference along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Advisor on Petroleum Nadeem Babar after a federal cabinet meeting, he said the decision was in line with the government’s policy and vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to reduce impact of rising prices of commodities on the common man.
The minister said: “no free lunch is being offered to any industry or sector through this measure.”
He said the government strongly believes in transparency and will not take any step against the public interest.
Omar Ayub Khan said the fertiliser industry will need to submit a forensic audit to determine if it had collected GIDC from farmers, and if so, to what extent.
They would have to refund such amounts to the farmers through future price adjustment or surrender these amounts to the government treasury, he explained.
He said the amount waived off will be used by these companies for developing and improving infrastructure.
He said in total there are seven beneficiary fertiliser companies, of which two have already availed the facility during the previous PPP tenure. All of these are public limited companies and are fully audited, he explained.