Bills to discourage drug usage among students okayed

Islamabad: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Thursday okayed the Compulsory Drug Test of Students Bill, 2018 and the Prevention of Drugs in Educational Institutions Bill, 2018.

The two private members bills were introduced by MNAs Asiya Naz Tanoli and Shahida Rehman on floor of the National Assembly, over a month back.

The bills are aimed at discouraging drug use among students and suggest mandatory drug testing -including surprise testing of students at least once a year. The bills also suggest keeping the identities of drug users confidential so as to prevent stigmatization by society, and facilitating drug users to use rehabilitation centres.

The two bills, however, were opposed by Education Minister Balighur Rehman at the time of introduction in the National Assembly. The Prevention of Drug Test of Students bill, 2018 states that the costs of drug tests should be borne by educational institutions, and should be part of their annual budget.

Students who do not show up for drug tests should, after being given sufficient chances to reappear, should not be allowed to sit for their final examinations, and institutions that do not conduct the tests would be fined up to Rs500,000, the bill says.

The committee which met with Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan in the chair also passed the Pakistan Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, 2017 Shaista Pervaiz MNA in the National Assembly

The committee while appreciating the performance of NEPRA has directed that NEPRA may take stringent measures to keep proper check and balance on K-Electric to stop the unscheduled load shedding in Karachi and come up with the proposals so that Committee could take them appropriate forum for their amicable solution.

The committee expressed strong displeasure over the unnecessary delay in finalising the case of Grand Hyyat Hotel, Islamabad and directed that FIA may pursue the court case affectively for early adjudication so that culprits could be penalized without further delay.

The CDA officials were also directed to take measures to stop the mushroom growth of slums and illegal Housing Societies in Islamabad. The Committee however, directed the authority to allow for construction of double stories in slums which had been legalised by CDA to fulfil their domestic needs and report to the Committee in its next meeting.

The Committee directed that CA&DD may take stringent measures for issuance of an Ordinance to resolve the issue of affectees of E-12 if not possible, a Bill may be introduced in the Senate of Pakistan so that issue could be resolved without further delay.

The authority was also directed to finalize the plan to accommodate the affectees of nurseries of Islamabad at the earliest and report be presented to the Committee within 15 days of the meeting.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Syed Ali Raza Abidi, Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar, Malik Ibrar Ahmad, Asad Umar, Shehnaz Saleem, Ch. Khalid Javaid Warraich, Moulvi Agha Muhammad, Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddique, Ms. Seema Mohiuddin Jameeli, Nighat Parveen Mir, Rasheed Ahmed Khan, Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, Ms. Farhana Qamar, Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, and mover Ms. Shahida Rehmani and Additional Secretaries of Capital Administration and Development Division, Capital Development Authority (CDA) and other senior officers of the concerned ministries and departments.