Islamabad, March 17 A car worth Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 90 million has been bought for Pakistan's Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani from the Senate's budget even as a majority of the country's population battles rising inflation, the local media reported.
According to sources, the vehicle was purchased from the Senate budget and has already arrived at the Pakistan's Senate Secretariat. When asked about the purchase, Gilani, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan, said that the car has already been purchased, Pakistan's leading daily 'The Express Tribune' reported.
"Yes, we purchased the car from the Senate budget, but it was ordered in May last year," Gilani was quoted as saying asserting that the vehicle was ordered using savings from the Senate's budget of the previous year. Gilani mentioned that he had tried to return the vehicle considering current economic situation of Pakistan, however, he was told that the car had already reached.
Geo News reported on Tuesday that a Senator, belonging to the treasury benches and requesting anonymity, regretted that the purchase was needless in such a national scenario, wherein over 70 million people live below the poverty line amid soaring inflation.
Last June, Pakistan's Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in Parliament House that the Senate Chairman and the Speaker of the National Assembly were getting a salary of PKR 2.15 million per month. At the time, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had objected, saying that the hiked salaries of the Chairman Senate, the National Assembly Speaker and others amounted to "economic obscenity," The Express Tribune reported.
Last month, it was reported that the provincial government in Punjab planned to purchase 108 new luxury vehicles worth PKR 1.14 billion for cabinet members and bureaucrats during the current financial year as per decisions taken by the cabinet committee and recommendations made by the transport wing, Pakistan's Dawn reported.
The cabinet committee and the transport wing had recommended purchasing vehicles at different times during the past three months. However, the Punjab government is yet to give its final approval for buying the vehicles.
A senior officer in the transport wing denied that the government was planning to buy new luxury vehicles for the ministers and bureaucrats. However, some well-placed sources in the transport wing revealed that only government's approval was awaited on recommendations submitted from time to time during the past three months, Dawn reported.
The sources said that the transport wing had given its recommendations for buying 28 new vehicles worth PKR 300 million for the Punjab cabinet members. The Punjab government has already given approval to buy two bullet-proof 4x4 vehicles worth PKR 40 million for two provincial ministers.
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