Deficit of PIA reaches to Rs482 bn, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan told the Senate Tuesday that degrees and educational certificates of a total of 466 PIA employees were found to be fake or tempered, while deficit of PIA has reached to Rs482 billion.

He said that 15 pilots and 119 cabin crew members and their services were terminated, however, cases of some were pending in courts. He said that deficit of PIA has touched to Rs482 billion, however, the deficit of PIA remained low in 2019.

He pointed out that in PIA a new policy was being thrashed out, which would envisage verification of employees’ academic documents during their probation period. He was replying to a question by Senator Mian Ateeq Sheikh. The minister also said presently, 47 pilots working with PIA were above 60 years of age.

The minister said it was the previous government’s decision to re-employ pilots on one-year contract. The Senate was also informed that it was incorrect that Pakistan was exporting pink salt to India under any contractual arrangement at 37 paisa per kg.

During the question-hour, in a written reply, the minister for commerce and trade said that indeed Pakistan had been exporting salt to India at an average price of Rs7.04 per kg. The facts are that India is the world’s largest exporter of rock salt with annual exports of around 12.8 million tonne.

He was responding to a question by Senator Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani of the PTI. “Since India exports low quality industrial salt, mainly used in soda ash, the value of exported salt is $22.6 million with average unit price of $18 per tonne (Pak Rs2.7 per kg).

On the other hand, Pakistan exported around 301,344 tonne of rock salt worth $ 52 million in 2018,” he noted. Pakistan, he explained, exported to India around 72,631 tonne of rock salt worth $3.4 million at average unit price of $47 per metric tonne.

It included both the industrial salt used for soda ash and the table salt. Thus, Pakistan exported rock salt to India at nearly three times higher price than Indian export price. Pakistan’s average export price to India is also nearly the same as the global average trade price of $45 per tonne.