Federal Cabinet has given approval to reimburse two and half billion rupees to gas consumers who received inflated bills.

This was stated by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain while briefing media about the cabinet decisions. Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The Minister said the cabinet took into view the issue of inflated gas bills and discussed measures to rectify the situation.

He said 3.2 million gas consumers have been affected by exaggerated gas bills.

The Minister said the government has decided to spend 290 billion rupees on agriculture, with 18 big schemes to be launched in the next five years.

He said during last 8 years, agricultural spending reduced by 60 percent negatively impacting this crucial sector of economy.

The Minister said our agricultural imports have reached to 4 billion dollars, which include 2 billion dollars of edible oil bill.

He said the cabinet decided to raise awareness among people to reduce the consumption of banaspati oil at households to save precious foreign exchange on import of edible oil.

Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said in the new agri schemes, focus will be made on increasing per capita production, judicious use of water, and increased access to farming credits.

He said as direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan livestock and fisheries sector will be given special attention as they have a huge export potential.

He said the government has decided not to construct any building on the land used by Baba Guru Nanak for agricultural purposes in Kartarpur acccepting demand of the Sikh community.

The cabinet expressed sorrow and grief over the tragic incident of terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand in which fifty persons were martyred.

The Minister said we need dialogue among civilizations to counter the hatred spread in West against Islam and Muslims. He said survival of human beings is only possible if they live in peaceful co-existence.

Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the cabinet decided to make necessary arrangements for the upcoming visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad who will visit Pakistan on the occasion of 23rd Mach, Pakistan Day.

He said it is a continuation of visits of important world leaders to Pakistan after PTI came to power. He said Mahathir's visit to Pakistan is a great honor for us.

The Minister said the cabinet decided that heads of regulatory bodies, corporations and attached departments of ministries will be selected on merit and a preliminary committee headed by the respective Minister will oversee the process.

The cabinet gave approval to grant National Information Technology Board an independent status, separating it from Ministry of Information Technology in order to improve its functioning.

It has also been decided to shift Accountability Court No. 2 Rawalpindi to Islamabad and it will be now called Accountability Court No. 3.

He said the Task force for Evacuee Trust complex has been approved while the decision about its chairman deferred for a week.