The Council of Common Interest (CCI) took up six out of seven agenda items on Thursday but the most crucial issue, the establishment of a drug regulatory authority, was not taken up at the meeting, which was attended by three out of the four chief ministers as Balochistan CM Nawab Aslam Raisani chose not to attend.
During the hearing of the spurious drugs case, the Supreme Court had directed the federal government to immediately form a drug regulatory authority to resolve the issue of registration of drugs on a priority basis. Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi came under fire in the CCI meeting as the chief ministers expressed their anger at the unnecessary delays in the provision of relevant material regarding the agenda items to be taken up during the meeting, and the prime minister directed the cabinet secretary to ensure that relevant material was provided to all participants on time.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani chaired the meeting of the CCI, its 8th since the passage of the 18th Amendment. A source told Pakistan Today that during the meeting, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif expressed his annoyance at not being provided copies of the committee’s recommendations on the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Ordinance. “However, when asked, Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar told the prime minister that the committee’s recommendations had been forwarded to the Cabinet Division. However, the officials of the Cabinet Division had failed to circulate the papers on time. He also criticised the cabinet secretary for failing to do so,” said the source. The source quoted Shahbaz Sharif as saying that the chief ministers did not meet to have fun during the CCI meetings, as they were very busy. He said whenever they met at the CCI they should be provided all relevant material in time so deliberations could be made by the CCI on each agenda item.
“The prime minister then directed the cabinet secretary to ensure that in future all relevant material was provided to the participants in time,” the source added. The meeting considered six agenda items and approved the Annual Report of the last year, which has to be presented to parliament as a constitutional requirement. On the presentation by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, the prime minister directed the Planning Division and Economic Affairs Division to provide full support in arranging funds for the Thar Coal Project on top priority basis, as it was a national project for power generation.
The prime minister also accepted the request of the Punjab and Sindh chief ministers to incentivise power generation by sugar mills using their baggas to generate around 2000 megawatts per year. The premier asked his Advisor on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh to convene an energy conference at the earliest, which he would chair, aimed at removing the snags, if any, being faced at present. The CCI approved in principle the policy of Petroleum Exploration and Production 2012. The prime minister ordered that a meeting of provincial governments’ representatives be held early next week to address some observations raised by the provinces. The CCI approved an amendment in its earlier decision to charge 30 paisas per MAF of water and half a paisa for each unit of electricity produced from hydroelectric and nuclear sources. The CCI also approved the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2012, which was unanimously approved by all the chief ministers.
