PNCA stands ‘orphan’

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Thursday strongly recommended provision of pension to the employees of Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) after retirement, while it also called for establishing flood relief camps and organising nationwide performances to collect money, edibles and other material for the flood victims of Sindh.
Belum Husnain, the chairperson of the committee, presided over the meeting. Besides the eight members of the committee, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan, Secretary Information Taimur Azmat and other officials attended the meeting.
The committee focussed on the budgetary allocations for the PNCA. It was found that though the annual maintenance budget was Rs 139,604 million, it had received an amount of around Rs 28 million during the first three months of the current fiscal year. The case for development expenditure was no different, as the amount released was Rs 7.5 million while the total allocation stood at Rs 90.75 million. The meeting asked the officials concerned about the completion date of various projects, as slow pace of work tended to raise the cost.
The minister pointed out several difficulties, saying after the devolution, the activities of PNCA were being looked after by three ministries.
“PNCA and Lok Virsa are looking for some one to own them,” said Awan, adding that she expected to hold a meeting with the prime minister to solve the anomaly.
Awan lamented that the devolution of Culture Ministry was a setback for art and culture in the federal capital, adding that the budget of PNCA was now divided into different chunks through the ministries of economic affairs, foreign affairs and information and broadcasting.
She said that the PNCA should be given under the control of a single ministry for its smooth functioning and called for provision of pension to its employees after their retirement. Awan also suggested that the PNCA should be made a hub for all relevant activities in collecting resources for relief and rehabilitation for the flood ravaged unfortunate flood victims.
The meeting suggested that the PNCA must to take control of regional art centres and councils to highlight the cultural heritage, as some members pointed out that the youngsters were generally ignorant of the national heroes and outstanding personalities.
It was decided at the meeting that the portraits of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal should be mounted at all the lounges of airports and the prominent places in the cities to make the masses aware of the two great leaders.