Country's debt stands at Rs29,000 billion, NA told
Minister says CNICs of 181,070 individual blocked by NADRA
PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD :
Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub Khan told the National Assembly on Friday that the country's total debt has swelled to Rs29,000 billion from Rs15,000 billion in 2013.
Depicting a gloomy picture of the country's economy, he said the circular debt in power sector had become Rs1,300 billion while petroleum sector debt had also increased to a phenomenal Rs150 billion.
"This has happened due to flawed policies of the previous government that did not pay attention to addressing the issue of power pilferage," he added.
Responding to the criticism of the opposition benches over 'The Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill, 2018", the minister said 29 per cent of the electricity bills "are not recovered which accumulate to a massive Rs80 billion every year".
He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government was focusing on improving the power transmission lines. He said the previous government focused on quick generation of the electricity and paid no attention to improving transmission lines.
Newly-elected MNAs take oath in landmark session today
"The total capacity of transmission lines to supply electricity is 19,000 megawatt. The financial closure was not made of the power plants which were established during the term of the previous government and now these projects are in crisis," he added.
Participating in the discussion on the finance bill, Aliya Kamran of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said the present government had overburdened people with taxes. She said the cut on development expenditures would increase unemployment in the country. "The government should reduce the energy prices," she said.
Naz Baloch of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was critical of the government's decision to lease out the Radio Pakistan building. She said her party always established key institutions like the Pakistan Steel Mills, and gave the country a unanimous Constitution.
Baloch compared Finance Minister Asad Umar with Raja Todar Mal, the finance minister of Mughal emperor Akbar. She said Mal was known for his fiscal policies. She also recalled the budget of Liaquat Ali Khan presented in 1946 with a lot of incentives for the poor.
"What the today's Todar Mal, Asad Umar, has done with the people in the budget. He is defending all those things which he used to criticise when he was in the opposition. On this, Todar Mal must be turning his sides in his grave," she stated.
Asma Habib of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said she was a descendant of Todar Mal from her father's side, adding that Asad Umer had presented a practical budget keeping in view the economic situation of the country.
24 newly-elected MNAs are matriculate: FAFEN
Abdul Akbar Chitrali said the supplementary budget had already pushed up the prices of essential commodities. Earlier, responding to a calling-attention notice regarding blocking of the CNICs of the residents of tribal areas, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said there were a total of 2.839 million CNIC holders in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), and of them 6,824 CNICs had been blocked.
"Of the blocked CNICs, 6,546 belong to the Pashto-speaking community. There a total of 144.8 million CNICs in the country, of which 181,070 CNICs are blocked," he added.
He said all the intelligence agencies and other relevant institutions were working in close coordination with each other to ensure people's security. He said the tribal people would also be taken on board to address their genuine complaints and protect their rights.
He said a special unit had been established to facilitate the people of tribal areas to get CNIC and address their issues relating to the blocking of ID. "Any citizen of Pakistan can apply for CNIC from any centre of NADRA (National Database Registration Authority)," he added.
He assured the house that no compromise would be made on the matter of national security, expressing the resolve of the government to make the country a cradle of peace.
Rana Tanveer Hussain of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the PTI government had promised to give jobs to the youth but it had started laying off employees from different organisations.
The 15th National Assembly of Pakistan, which had taken oath on August 13, 2018, witnessed its first breach of quorum when after a few minutes of the proceedings, PML-N's Sheikh Fayyaz-ud-din pointed out the quorum. This led to the counting of the legislators and the proceedings were suspended for around 20 minutes.
At the onset of the sitting, PML-N's Murtaza Javed strongly criticised the chair, Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, for not allowing a lawmaker of the PML-N to point out quorum on Thursday.
He was of the view that this practice was against the parliamentary norms. At this point, quorum was pointed out and the lawmakers belonging to PML-N walked out of the house to mark their protest over the issue. Quorum was also pointed out on another occasion but on headcount it was found complete. The house was adjourned to meet again on Monday at 4:30 pm.
Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub Khan told the National Assembly on Friday that the country's total debt has swelled to Rs29,000 billion from Rs15,000 billion in 2013.
Depicting a gloomy picture of the country's economy, he said the circular debt in power sector had become Rs1,300 billion while petroleum sector debt had also increased to a phenomenal Rs150 billion.
"This has happened due to flawed policies of the previous government that did not pay attention to addressing the issue of power pilferage," he added.
Responding to the criticism of the opposition benches over 'The Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill, 2018", the minister said 29 per cent of the electricity bills "are not recovered which accumulate to a massive Rs80 billion every year".
He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government was focusing on improving the power transmission lines. He said the previous government focused on quick generation of the electricity and paid no attention to improving transmission lines.
Newly-elected MNAs take oath in landmark session today
"The total capacity of transmission lines to supply electricity is 19,000 megawatt. The financial closure was not made of the power plants which were established during the term of the previous government and now these projects are in crisis," he added.
Participating in the discussion on the finance bill, Aliya Kamran of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said the present government had overburdened people with taxes. She said the cut on development expenditures would increase unemployment in the country. "The government should reduce the energy prices," she said.
Naz Baloch of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was critical of the government's decision to lease out the Radio Pakistan building. She said her party always established key institutions like the Pakistan Steel Mills, and gave the country a unanimous Constitution.
Baloch compared Finance Minister Asad Umar with Raja Todar Mal, the finance minister of Mughal emperor Akbar. She said Mal was known for his fiscal policies. She also recalled the budget of Liaquat Ali Khan presented in 1946 with a lot of incentives for the poor.
"What the today's Todar Mal, Asad Umar, has done with the people in the budget. He is defending all those things which he used to criticise when he was in the opposition. On this, Todar Mal must be turning his sides in his grave," she stated.
Asma Habib of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said she was a descendant of Todar Mal from her father's side, adding that Asad Umer had presented a practical budget keeping in view the economic situation of the country.
24 newly-elected MNAs are matriculate: FAFEN
Abdul Akbar Chitrali said the supplementary budget had already pushed up the prices of essential commodities. Earlier, responding to a calling-attention notice regarding blocking of the CNICs of the residents of tribal areas, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said there were a total of 2.839 million CNIC holders in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), and of them 6,824 CNICs had been blocked.
"Of the blocked CNICs, 6,546 belong to the Pashto-speaking community. There a total of 144.8 million CNICs in the country, of which 181,070 CNICs are blocked," he added.
He said all the intelligence agencies and other relevant institutions were working in close coordination with each other to ensure people's security. He said the tribal people would also be taken on board to address their genuine complaints and protect their rights.
He said a special unit had been established to facilitate the people of tribal areas to get CNIC and address their issues relating to the blocking of ID. "Any citizen of Pakistan can apply for CNIC from any centre of NADRA (National Database Registration Authority)," he added.
He assured the house that no compromise would be made on the matter of national security, expressing the resolve of the government to make the country a cradle of peace.
Rana Tanveer Hussain of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the PTI government had promised to give jobs to the youth but it had started laying off employees from different organisations.
The 15th National Assembly of Pakistan, which had taken oath on August 13, 2018, witnessed its first breach of quorum when after a few minutes of the proceedings, PML-N's Sheikh Fayyaz-ud-din pointed out the quorum. This led to the counting of the legislators and the proceedings were suspended for around 20 minutes.
At the onset of the sitting, PML-N's Murtaza Javed strongly criticised the chair, Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, for not allowing a lawmaker of the PML-N to point out quorum on Thursday.
He was of the view that this practice was against the parliamentary norms. At this point, quorum was pointed out and the lawmakers belonging to PML-N walked out of the house to mark their protest over the issue. Quorum was also pointed out on another occasion but on headcount it was found complete. The house was adjourned to meet again on Monday at 4:30 pm.