Cabinet approves Local Govt Commission for ICT with Ali Nawaz as its head.

ISLAMABAD -- Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Tuesday said the Federal Cabinet had approved the formation of Local Government Commission for the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), which would be headed by Member of the National Assembly Ali Nawaz Awan.

The Local Government Commission would work to keep the capital city clean, maintain its healthy environment and remove garbage, besides monitoring and assessing the situation of municipal services, she said

Flanked by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza, she was addressing a press conference to share the details of decisions taken by the cabinet, which met here with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

Dr Zafar said the cabinet had approved decrease in the prices of 89 essential and life-saving medicines under its 2018 Medicine Pricing Policy with immediate effect.

He said many of the medicines were used in treating heart diseases and blood pressure. Those medicines were part of the essential medicine list under which prices had to be decreased by 10 percent for three years.

The government had to increase the medicines' prices by 15 percent due to devaluation of the dollar last year, he added.

He said the prime minister instructed to review the Medicine Pricing Policy within two months to facilitate the general public. The ministry was in the last stages of formulating a National Medicine Policy for the pharmaceutical sector, which would be announced in the coming weeks, he added.

Dr Firdous said the cabinet was taking practical steps to provide relief to the needy and deserving people.

She said the cabinet ratified the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) taken during its meeting held on December 12, 2019.

The special assistant said Hamid Haroon of the Military Lands and Cantonment Boards was appointed senior member Federal Land Commission in grade 22. Similarly, Farrukh Iqbal was appointed Chief Executive Officer and President of First Women Bank, and Irfan Bukhari Chief Executive Officer Exim Bank of Pakistan, she added.

The cabinet sent the issue of sale of shares of House Building Finance Corporation to the ECC and decided to take up the issue after the ECC decision, she added.

Dr Firdous said the cabinet formed a sub-committee to consider the names for members for Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which would be finalized in consultation with the Leader of the...