The Senate’s Finance Committee on Thursday decided to adopt and observe strict austerity measures in view of the economic situation in the country.
While austerity measures already enforced by the Senate chairman would remain in place, some new measures would be introduced in consonance with the ones proposed by the Finance Division. The meeting presided over by Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek at the Parliament House also decided to discontinue the paid transport facility to senators from March 2012 because of increasing maintenance and fuel costs. The committee also reviewed the service structure of the ex-cadre employees of the secretariat, and approved to keep them at par with other regular cadres besides changing the nomenclature of certain professional cadres. To extend better research-related facilities to the members for informed policy making, the committee recommended reorganising and revamping the Research Cell of the Senate Secretariat. The meeting was attended by Leader of the House in the Senate Nayyar Hussain Bokhari and Senators Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Prof Khurshid Ahmad, Wasim Sajjad and Sardar Ali Khan. Senate Secretary Iftikharullah Babar and other high ranking officials of the Senate and Finance Ministry were also present on the occasion.
