Islamabad

Pakistan's Punjab province approved PKR (Pakistani Rupees) 1.33 billion to purchase 133 VIP protocol and luxury vehicles for their government functionaries and officers.

This comes at a time when the country is facing a flood, food crisis, unemployment, poverty and inflation.

The meeting, chaired by Punjab province Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, approved the purchase where the government will be buying 44 Toyota Fortuner, 33 Toyota Corolla Grande, 12 Toyota Corolla and 44 Hilux Vigo.

According to official documents of the Punjab government, the vehicles will be used for the protocol of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and the Chief Minister's Office and government officials.

Toyota Fortuner vehicles will be used for executive as well as protocol duties for which a huge amount of supplementary grant approval has been released.

The surprising thing is that the case of all the VIP Protocol vehicle purchasing had to go to the austerity committee. However, the government exempted the case of purchase of these vehicles from the austerity committee.

On the financial front, Pakistan's currency continues to fall despite the inflow of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans.

ALSO READ: Pak Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb heckled in London, protesters chant 'chorni, chorni'

The government's error of judgment in paying the import bills unnecessarily on the advice of a coalition partner has depleted the foreign currency reserves.