- Minister tells NA no Hajj quota for prime minister, ministers or parliamentarians
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Wednesday that the country’s first-ever water policy will be announced on March 22.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired a meeting of the federal cabinet at Prime Minister’s Office where the cabinet accorded approval for the presentation of draft water policy before the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
The planning commission deputy chairman briefed the cabinet in detail about the issues relating to water management in the country and the first-ever draft water policy of the country. Briefing the meeting about main features of the national policy framework, he said that the policy aims at the introduction of integrated water management for addressing water-related challenges.
The policy addresses issues relating to enhancing water storage capacity, conservation, research and development, capacity building of existing administrative departments, allocation of financial resources and establishment of the institutional set-up at provincial levels.
Minister for Water Resources Javed Ali Shah told the House during the question-hour session on Wednesday that it is for the first time in the country’s history that a water policy has been formulated covering all aspects, including water conservation and storage. He said that a steering committee will oversee the implementation of water policy.
Javed Ali Shah said the groundbreaking of Munda Dam will be performed in Mohmand Agency next month. It will help generate 800 megawatts of electricity besides irrigating 16,700 acres of land. He said funds are available for this project and efforts will be made to complete it at the earliest.
‘NO HAJJ QUOTA FOR LAWMAKERS’:
Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousuf told the House that transparency and fairness is being ensured in Hajj balloting. He clarified that there is no Hajj quota for the prime minister, ministers or the parliamentarians.
The minister said that this year three hundred and seventy-five thousand people applied to perform Hajj under the government scheme.
He said that given the arrangements put in place by the Ministry of Religious Affairs at the Holy Land and its economy package, the majority of people desire to perform Hajj under the government scheme.
This, he said, is the reason that we have decided that 67 per cent people will perform Hajj under government scheme while 33 per cent under private Hajj operators.
He, however, said that the private Hajj operators have moved the court against this decision. He assured the court’s decision on the matter will be implemented.
Minister of State for Maritime Affairs Jaffar Iqbal told the House that Gwadar port is in the development phase and it will become a profitable entity in the next two to three years.
He said that modern machinery has been placed at the port to load and offload the goods from containers.
Minister for Defence Khurram Dastgir laid before the House “The Joint Maritime Information Organisation Bill, 2018”.
The minister said the bill is aimed at establishing an institution to consolidate all the information pertaining to maritime affairs.
He said that relevant suggestions of the parliamentarians will be incorporated in the bill.
Meanwhile, the House passed two bills. These are “The Establishment of Federal Bank for Cooperatives and Regulation of Cooperative Banking (Repeal) Bill, 2017” and “The House Building Finance Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2017”.
The bills were moved by Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan.
Responding to a call attention notice, Minister for Water Resources Javed Ali Shah said that water is being distributed among the provinces in accordance with Water Accord of 1991.
He said the share of Sindh was 19 thousand cusecs but it was given over nineteen thousand and one hundred cusecs.
He categorically made it clear that the government has no desire to shift the water share of one province to the other.
