Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar is mulling over re-imposition of tax on prepaid mobile top ups so that a certain amount of money could be generated for dam funds every month.
He was speaking at a fundraiser hosted by UK Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in London.
CJP said he was against the idea of imposing any additional tax on the nation to collect funds for the construction of Diamir-Bhasha dam.
He, however, put forward a suggestion to re-impose the tax on prepaid mobile recharge and the income generated through this, would go to the dam fund every month.
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“It will not be appropriate to impose taxes to collect funds for the construction of dams; however, we had earlier suspended the withholding tax on the top-up of prepaid cards by cellphone service providers and learnt that through this Rs. 3 billion were saved per month.” – Chief Justice Saqib Nisar
He asked his countrymen to give their views about the proposal so that the funds for the dams could be collected at the earliest.
He said the previous government showed criminal negligence towards the building of dams, due to which we are facing water scarcity throughout the country.
CJP lambasted the water mafia in Karachi and said it was the metropolis’ water issue that made him realize how worse the situation has gone in Karachi.
Chief Justice said building dams in Pakistan was so crucial that ‘dams should be built on every inch of the Indus River.’
Justice Saqib Nisar was hopeful that one day all the provinces would be on the same page for the construction of Kalabagh Dam.
He also pledged to make good use of every penny the nation has entrusted to him for dam funds even after his retirement.
“These funds are a loan from the nation and I will hand them over to a trustworthy man before leaving,” he said.
