The Senate Wednesday decided to debate a motion regarding the proposed conversion of 1400 acre of land of National Agricultural Research Centre by the CDA into residential and commercial plots.
The Motion was moved by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the House that CDA had leased out 1,400 acre land for 33 years to National Agricultural Research Centre in 1975 which expired in 2005. He said the land was leased out for agriculture purposes but a petrol pump and housing colonies have also been established there. He said a summary has been sent to the prime minister for guidelines in this regard and till the approval of the summary CDA cannot take any action.
Shaikh Aftab Ahmad also told the House that Machine Readable Passport System will start functioning from November 1, 2015, to facilitate Overseas Pakistanis residing in Philippines.
Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Pervaiz Rashid told the House that Chairman and members of the National Commission for Human Rights have been appointed after due process of law.
Responding to a call attention notice by Agha Shahbaz Khan Durrani, he said process is underway for appointment of a member from FATA.
The minister said chairman of the commission has been provided office space in cabinet division besides provision of transport, security and funds for office expenditure.
During question hour, the Senate was informed that in the last five years, 44 new post offices have been opened in Balochistan province to facilitate the people.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad said that five post offices working on franchised bases have been closed during this period in the province. However, he said, under alternative arrangements services are being provided to the people. He said at present 12,035 post offices are functioning throughout the country.
To a question, he said 36 kilometre out of 71 kilometre Peshawar-Kohat section of N-55 is in fair state. He said 35 kilometre of this road is in poor condition which will be repaired during this financial year. He said allocations for this purpose have also been made in the budget.
Answering a question, Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the House that Khuzdar-Ratodero section of M-8 is divided into five packages. Package one and two that is from Khuzdar to Khori and from Ratodero to Quba Saeed Khan is already completed whereas three packages in between Quba Saeed Khan and Khori are under progress which is likely to be completed by the end of this year.
He said the length of 39 National Highways and Motorways throughout the country under National Highway Authority is 12131 kilometres. The length of roads in Balochistan under NHA is 4565 kilometre which is over 37 percent of the total NH’s network. He said the total amount spent during last five years on maintenance of National Highway network is over 55960 million rupees. While total amount spent during this period on maintenance of National Highways in Balochistan is over 9951 million rupees. The chair referred the question to the Standing Committee concerned for further discussion.
To a question, the minister of state for national health services and regulations in a written reply told the House that the National TB Control Programme [NTP], as a policy make sure the provision of uninterrupted, regular supply of free of cost quality anti-TB medicines to every registered patients in the country. She said it is essential that the country maintain a sufficient and well-managed supply of quality TB drugs. She said quality assurance is an integral part of NTP and had developed a multi-dimensional strategy to ensure quality of essential anti-TB drugs and strengthen the drug management system.