Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on Saturday told the National Assembly that additional funds had been allocated for some departments of the ministries being transferred to provinces under 18th amendment.
Winding up debate on cut motions about the Cabinet and Establishment Division, Hina Khar said that the 18th amendment was passed by the Parliament and the ministries were transferred to the provinces with consultation of the political parties. However, some of their attached departments would remain with the federal government under the decision of 18th Amendment Implementation Commission.
She said that some members of the National Assembly (MNAs) had questioned the large size of Cabinet during the budget debate which was wrong. She clarified that presently there were only 29 federal ministers, nine ministers of state, four advisers and three special assistants to the Prime Ministers and no one else was taking such benefits. She said that a question was also raised in the House that the developing countries were minimizing their cabinet expenditures.
It is a matter of pleasure that Pakistan is also among such countries with cutting its expenditures by 18 per cent reducing its Cabinet Division budget from Rs 224 million to Rs 180 million. The state minister said the basic reason of increase in expenditures of the Cabinet Division was raise in the salaries of government employees. She said that the members also raised the issue that no proper assistance was provided to the flood affected people.
It was the responsibility of provinces but regretfully they could not fullfil them and ultimately the federal government had come to their rescue, she said. She said that the job of federal government was like a facilitator and coordinator which it performed with full responsibility. During the last 4-year, the country had to face several kinds of natural calamities and now a handsome amount had been allocated to provide relief to the affected people and to coup with such situations, she added.
Khar said the government was establishing Devolution Cell for those departments which remained with the Federal Government after transfer of ministries to the provinces under the 18th Amendment. She said the expenditures of Prime Minister Secretariat had increased by eight per cent due to increase in the salaries and perks of employees. She said the matters of Accountability Law and National Accountability Bureau were also with the Steering Committee for consideration.
She said that review of Pak-Afghan Transit Trade by the Cabinet was in the national interest. She said that the 18th Amendment Implementation Commission had given additional responsibilities to the Cabinet Secretariat, which made a minimum increase in its expenditures. Under the NFC Award, an amount of Rs 131 billion was being transferred to Balochistan which was more than double of the previous year, the minister said.
In his winding up debate about the Communication Ministry, Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan informed the House that a total of Rs 33 billion had been allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for National Highway Authority (NHA) for the current fiscal year. About the cut motions of MNAs regarding decrease in allocation of funds for Balochistan, he said, it was reduced due to the law and order situation.
However, he assured that the province would get its full share. He said that the government earned Rs 7.3 billion in 2008-09 from the toll plazas, Rs nine billion in 2009-10 and would earn Rs 14 billion during the current fiscal year. He said toll plazas would be given to private parties under open bidding in a transparent manner. A parliamentary committee should be formed to pinpoint maintenance of roads in the country, adding that priority was being given to those roads in the maintenance programme which were strategically important.
Arbab Alamgir said that an agreement had been signed between OGDCL and Mole Company for construction of Khusalgarh Bridge costing Rs 1.7 billion and work on it would be started within one month. He said land has been acquired for Faisalabad-Multan Motorway. He admitted that despite having a law for overloading, it could not be implemented resultantly the country’s suffered billions of rupees losses.