The National Assembly was informed Tuesday that the population census will be held in March 2017.
Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch told the House that the Population Census will be held in March next year.
Winding up discussion on a motion moved by Sheikh Salahuddin, he said the government has given a commitment in the Supreme Court in this regard.
The Minister said the next elections will be held on the basis of the new census. He said it is an impression that census with the involvement of armed forces is more credible. He said a minimum of 88000 troops are required to conduct this exercise.
Earlier, taking part in the discussion, the members said that conducting of population census is a constitutional obligation and imperative for future development.
The NA was also informed that there is no shortage of fuel in the country.
The clarification came from the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad while responding to points raised by Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Syed Naveed Qamar.
The members raised the issue of shortage of fuel after reports appeared in the press causing concern among the general public.
To another question, the Minister said that there is an issue of liability between PIA and PSO which may have caused a delay in PIA flight from Karachi to Islamabad as was pointed out by Ghulam Mustafa Shah.
Winding up a discussion on a motion moved by Parveen Masood Bhatti regarding non-fixation of minimum pension of Government servant at fifty thousand rupees per month,
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan told the House that the government cannot enhance the salaries and pension of the government employees out of proportion.
The Parliamentary Secretary said development cannot take place in the country by increasing non-development expenditures. He said we can alleviate poverty through development expenditures which will create jobs for the people.
Parliamentary secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that resurvey of BISP is being conducted across the country. He pointed out that door to door resurvey is being conducted and it is non-political.
He was responding to a motion regarding the performance of Benazir Income Support Programme moved by Naeema Kishwar Khan.
Rana Afzal said the government is giving priority to this programme and its funding has been increased from 70 billion to 115 billion rupees. He said the quarterly amount to the beneficiary from three thousand rupees to 4834 rupees and the total beneficiaries have been increased to 5.4 million.
He said a system has been evolved to address the complaints of payments to the beneficiaries. He said under this programme, 17000 beneficiaries have been given training in different fields. He pointed out that hundred percent beneficiaries of the programme are women.
Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Asiya Naz Tanoli and others regarding increasing trend of use of drugs by the students in the Government and Private Schools and Colleges in Islamabad, Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division Tariq Fazal Chaudhary told the House that no such case has been registered so far.
He said basically the calling attention notice is based on a report by an NGO. He categorically rejected the facts and figures presented by the NGO in its report. He pointed out the NGOs and media should demonstrate responsibility while highlighting such issues. He said a letter will also be written to NGO asking it clarify its position on the report. He said monitoring teams have also been formed to check any wrong activity in schools and colleges in Islamabad.
Meanwhile “The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2016” was introduced in the National Assembly today. The bill was moved by Parveen Masood Bhatti.
The chair referred the bill to the concerned Standing Committee.
The National Assembly deferred “The Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad (Amendment) Bill, 2016”.
Speaking on the bill, Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division Tariq Fazal Chaudhary said that the Prime Minister has approved a summary of CADD separating the PIMS hospital from the administrative control of the University. He said now the summary is with the Ministry of Law which will propose necessary amendments for complete separation of PIMS and Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad. He pointed out that the decision has been taken in line with the demand of the four thousand employees of PIMS.
