The Senate on Friday passed the Credit Bureau Bill, 2015, which was moved by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The bill provides for the incorporation and functioning of the Credit Bureau. The Senate was informed on Friday that expansion and renovation of the Peshawar airport will be carried out at the cost of two billion rupees.
During question hour, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed told the House that the project would be completed in 15 months. To a question, the minister said that as per policy, six percent quota is reserved for Balochistan for appointments in the PIA. At present, 529 persons belonging to Balochistan are working in the organisation.
Minister for Kashmir Affairs Barjees Tahir told the House that the quota for disabled in government jobs was being observed by all ministries, divisions and attached departments. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed told the House that efforts were underway to provide financial assistance to the needy people under BISP in the first week of every month.
In a report on the matter referred by the House, the minister said that allocation for the programme had been increased in the budget. He said in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over one million poor people were benefiting from the programme.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar informed the House that over nine hundred and twenty thousand metric ton of wheat had been exported from July last year to June this year which is worth of Rs 32.5 billion.
He said the governments of Punjab and Sindh went to the ECC for permission to export surplus wheat. “There is no case of confiscation of wheat or rice by the customs officials on the pretext of preventing smuggling during the last two years.”
Replying to a call attention notice moved by Hafiz Hamdullah regarding allotment of full quota of Umrah visas by the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad to the private agents, Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan said the Foreign Office had raised the issue with the acting ambassador of Saudi Arabia. However, the acting Saudi ambassador said the matter was not Pakistan specific only.
In another call attention notice regarding destruction of homes and infrastructure along the working boundary due to heavy mortar shelling from the Indian side, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said Pakistan would give a befitting reply to any aggression.
He said there was a reaction on every such incident from Pakistan as armed forces also take physical action. He said India could not digest Pakistan’s improving economy and Chinese investment in the shape of China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
He said the corridor was also in the interest of India. He said China had also rejected Indian reservations on the corridor. He said the political leadership of the country was unanimous to implement the CPEC. The House was prorogued for an indefinite period.
