PM chairs pre-budget PPP Parliamentary party meeting;Promises people-frindly budget

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Thursday, the PPP government was committed to giving a people-friendly and pro-development budget to the nation to provide relief to the poorest of the poor. He made these remarks while chairing a pre-budget Parliamentary Party meeting of PPP MNAs here at the Prime Minister House. Prime Minister Gilani said the government was conscious of the economic challenges facing the country and was fully aware of the expectations of the masses.
He reaffirmed PPP’s steadfast commitment to bringing about a qualitative improvement in the lives of the vulnerable segments of the society by providing basic necessities of life to them at their doorsteps.

The Prime Minister called on the party members to keep close contact with the people and play a proactive role in redressing the grievances of the masses. He asked them to hold open Kutcheries to be able to assess their aspirations.
The upcoming budget, he added, would be the first major step towards redeeming the various pledges made by the Party and Shaheed Mohatrama Benazir Bhutto.
While elaborating government’s priorities, the Prime Minister stressed to incorporate measures which help in addressing the challenges being faced by the country.
He said boosting agriculture and manufacturing growth, overcoming energy and water shortages, developing human resources as well as providing relief to the lowest income groups were the real objectives of the budget for 2008/09 fiscal year.
Prime Minister Gilani appreciated the valuable suggestions by the parliamentarians to make the budget responsive to the needs of the people.
He said that their proposals would help in making the budget realistic and in keeping with the aspirations of the people.
The parliamentarians described the decision by the Prime Minister to regularize low income contractual government employees as timely, courageous and fulfilment of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto pledge to the people.
The meeting also discussed at length overall political situation of the country, and parliamentarians expressed their full confidence in the leadership of the Prime Minister.
The meeting was attended by PPP Parliamentarians and Federal Ministers including Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Mrs Frayal Talpur, Ms. Sherry Rehman, Syed Khurshid Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Mian Manzoor Watoo, , Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Mr. Faisal Karim Kundi, Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Ch Qamar uz Zaman Kaira, Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi besides other MNAs from all parts of the country.