The National Assembly took strong notice on Thursday of the CDA chairman’s failure to appear at the briefing held for the minister about the non-release of funds for the repair of roads.
The assembly referred the matter to the Privilege Committee for taking action and reporting it to the Parliament.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi said it was an alarming situation and that the House should take serious action on it.
He added that if the officials did not heed the calls of a senior minister then expectations could not be held from ordinary people.
The Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khursheed Shah had called attention to the CDA’s negligence in repairing the roads and informed the House that Rs 1500 million had been allocated for the repairs, but the CDA had not released any funds till date.
He said the CDA Chairman was asked to brief them about the problem but he did not come for the meeting. The minister condemned the attitude of bureaucrats and said the majority of the federal secretaries who are supposed to attend such meetings, send their section officers.
He called for a strong resolution against the act, but the deputy speaker sent the matter to the Privilege Committee.
Laiq Mohammad Khan, informed the House on a point of order that 80 percent of the work on various projects in the earthquake-hit areas of the Hazara division had been completed but the remaining work has been stopped due to the paucity of funds.
He demanded that funds for the projects be released immediately so that the projects could be completed.
Khursheed Shah while responding told the House said he would ask the finance secretary to immediately release the funds.
Haider Abbas Rizvi on a point of order condemned the rising incidents of extortion from the business community in Karachi and said half of Karachi’s industrialists have shifted their business to Malaysia, Vietnam and Bangladesh due to the law and order situation.
He said the matter was brought to the notice of the officials Sindh but no action was being taken.
Later the MQM MNAs staged a token walk-out from the House.
Chief Justice of Sudan witnesses NA proceedings: Chief Justice Republic of Sudan Justice Galal Elden Mohammad Osman Goreshi accompanied by a delegation, which is visiting Pakistan on invitation of Chief Justice Federal Shariat Court Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan witnessed proceedings of the National Assembly for some time.
Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo welcomed to the delegation in the National Assembly.
Applications invited: Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has called for applications for participation in Heimtextil Fair going to held at Frankfurt, Germany from January 9-12, 2013.
“Heimtextil is the biggest international trade fair for home and contract textiles”, says a statement issued by the authority here today.
According to TDAP statement, this fair provides an excellent opportunity to the exhibitors of terry goods and towels, bathrobes, bed linen, bedroom textiles, bathroom textiles, table linen, kitchen linen, upholstery fabrics, decorative fabrics, curtains and home accessories to interact with the foreign buyers.
Deadline for receiving applications is March 21, 2012, it said.
licenses canceled: Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali on Thursday told the National Assembly that Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has canceled licenses of 30 companies of bottled drinking water due to substandard quality. In response to a question during Question Hour, he said that PSQCA has the mandate to monitor the quality of Bottled Drinking Water and Natural Mineral Water. He said that the authority has also rejected five application for grant of licence for bottled drinking water.
To a supplementary question, the minister said that PSQCA testing centers were operating in various parts while a new center would be opened in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by end of the current month.
Soon a similar testing center would also be set up in Quetta, he said.
