Khawaja Asif says circular debt was Rs321 bn on June 30;
Aminul Hasnat says ETPB hired 1,923 employees against 600 capacity
ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmad said in the Senate on Friday that a contract would be awarded after intelligence agencies gave security clearance (about vendors) for procurement of 400 electronic voting machines (EVMs) and 300 biometric machines (BMs) as the Election Commission of Pakistan had completed related tasks.
During the question hour, he explained that the final demonstration of these machines was yet to be made before the Electoral Reforms Committee of the Parliament. “Once the contract is awarded to the selected firm/vendor, it will then take 10-12 weeks to deliver these machines to the ECP,” he said. Afterwards, these would be tested in eye-elections of national or provincial assemblies as a pilot project. He was replying in writing to a question by PTI’s Mohsin Aziz.
To another query by Muhammad Azam Swati of the PTI, the minister said it was for the parliament to amend the law to allow placing the statements of assets and liabilities of legislators on the ECP website. He explained that these statements under the law were required to be published in the official gazette only.
The PTI senator had asked if there was any proposal under consideration to restore asset details. Replying to a question, Federal Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif said the amount of circular debt was Rs 321 billion on June 30 and that during the financial year 2015, an amount of Rs 1,010 billion was paid against billing of Rs 1,057 billion, having payment ratio of 95.5 per cent. He said that due to proper financial management, DISCOs were being forced to pay 100 per cent on account of power purchased. Consequently, the recovery position had been improved that might be envisaged from the fact that payments to IPPs remained 102 per cent and 98 per cent in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
State Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony Pir Aminul Hasnat told the house that against the capacity of 600 personnel, the number of employees was increased to 1923 in the Evacuee Trust Property Board and the ex-chairman was out of the country since 2013 and the case was being probed by the NAB and the FIA. He conceded that the 5 per cent quota for minorities had not been maintained in the board but said anything on this matter could be said only after ongoing investigations.
Giving details of the employees, he said that at present, 467 security guards, 206 Naib Qasids and 198 LDCs were part of 1923 employees of the board.
To another question by PkMAP’s Muhammad Azam Musakhail, Sheikh Aftab said there was no grade-20 officer in the Prime Minister’s Office and those working belonged to Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir.
When Senators Azam and Usman Kakar asked as to why no senior office was posted in the PM Office from Balochistan and Fata, the minister explained that postings had nothing to do with the provincial quota. He said that four officers Babar Hassan Bharwana (grade-21), Dr Ijaz Munir (grade-21), Mohayuddin Ahmad Wani (grade-20) and Kamran Ali Afzal (grade-20) were drawing transport monetization allowance: Rs 77,430, Rs 77,430, Rs 65,960 and Rs 65,960, respectively.
Law Minister Zahid Hamid replied to a question by Senator Azam Swati, saying that the NAB was pursuing a case against officials of the Ministry of National Regulation and Services Division for their involvement in an illegal increase in the prices of drugs through Drug Pricing Committee and a sub-committee in connivance with pharmaceutical companies. He said a plea bargain application of the RG Pharmaceutical was accepted by the NAB chairman and then approved by the administrative judge of an accountability court and the total liability of Rs 385.12 million was paid by the accused company. The minister said he would check if any relief was given to consumers due to this development.
The Water and Power minister said that owing to certain reasons including the damage caused to tunnel boring machines due to rock burst in September this year and reviewing ground realities, the timelines were reassessed by all stakeholders and it was agreed that now the first generating unit of the Neelum Jhelum hydropower project would be ready for wet testing by February 1, 2018 and not by the end of July 2017. He said the original estimated completion cost of the project was Rs 84.502 billion in PC-I of 2002. The design went through substantial changes thereafter. The approved cost was as per 3rd revised PC-I in 2015, which is Rs 404.321 billion and that it was also under review.
After concerns expressed by many senators including PML-N’s Tanvir Khan and Senator Ahmad Hassan, who was chairing the proceedings during the question hour, the house was told the Bharakahu Housing Scheme issue had been referred to the Senate standing committee concerned for deliberations. The house was also informed that a curriculum committee had been constituted to remove hate material from the syllabus of seminaries. The festivals of different religions were commemorated at the official level to promote harmony.
Human Rights Minister Kamran Michael told the house that the government had introduced legislation including anti-rape and honour killing acts for the protection of women. He pointed out that a European Union monitoring team had appreciated various measures taken to address issues of the minorities and women and that these communities’ concerns would be duly addressed.