The National Assembly resumed its session at the Parliament House on Tuesday with Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair.
The House is conducting private members’ business.
Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Chaudhary Nazir Ahmad and others, Parliamentary Secretary for National Food Security Rajab Ali Baloch told the House that 215 centres were set up across the country for the distribution of gunnysacks among growers during the wheat-harvesting season.
He said that according to PASSCO officials, these bags were distributed amongst 72,355 farmers based on merit. He said there is need to introduce a more transparent mechanism for procurement of wheat from the farmers as the existing one has some flaws in it.
AMENDMENTS IN NAO:
The treasury and opposition benches have agreed to constitute a parliamentary body comprising members from both the National Assembly and Senate for bringing amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Law Zahid Hamid said across-the-board accountability is part of the manifesto of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and that they want to turn the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) into an independent commission to take decisions on the basis of merit.
Other members representing various parties emphasised that the parliamentary committee should be constituted at the earliest and it should be given a timeframe to complete its task.
They said there is need to strengthen the NAB and free it from any political interference. They said that all the parties want across-the-board accountability and those involved in corrupt practices should be brought to book.
Later, Shaikh Salahuddin of Muttahida Qaumi Movement introduced “The National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2016”. The speaker said the bill will be referred for consideration to the parliamentary committee after its constitution.