National Assembly approves 165 demands for grants

The National Assembly approved 165 demands for grants out of 183 worth Rs1.481 trillion to meet the ministers' expenditures.


Zia Khan June 23, 2010

The National Assembly on Wednesday approved 165 demands for grants out of 183 worth Rs1.481 trillion to meet the expenditures of various ministries and division during upcoming fiscal year, starting next month.

The house, however, rejected 274 cut motions proposed by the opposition members with a majority voice vote.

Cut motions are opposition members’ suggestions to withdraw or reduce budgetary allocation for agencies they believe are not performing up to the mark.

The demands for grants were approved for almost all ministries and divisions, including defence and defense production and the National Assembly and Senate secretariat.

Out of these divisions, there were cut motions only on Cabinet Division and ministry of industries and production.

Maximum cut motions (213 out of 274) were on demands for grants for the Cabinet Division as members criticised the performance of various departments working under it.

While remaining 61 motions were on demands for grants for Industries and Production Ministry.

Opposition members spoke on cut motions and criticised the performance of various departments working under the Cabinet Division.

They discussed the Capital Development Authority, National Accountability Bureau, Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Pakistan Steel Mills, proposed accountability, corruption, price hike and petroleum prices.

They took serious note of poor performance and claimed corruption was rampant in the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) as well as some other divisions.

Responding to their charges, Adviser to Prime Minister Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul and Minister for Industries and Production Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani defended the allocations, referring to various government initiatives for revival of industries and improvement in the performance of various divisions despite severe economic crisis.

The house adopted 142 demands for grants worth Rs1.383 trillion for various divisions in the pre-lunch session.

In addition, 19 demands for grants worth Rs93.333 billion for the Cabinet Division and attached departments were approved while 213 cut motions were rejected. The house adopted four demands for grants worth Rs3.787 billion for industries and production division, rejecting 61 cut motions by the opposition members.

The house proceedings were smooth except for a token walkout by Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz for delay in bringing the Accountability Law to the house and a walkout by Naseer Bhutta against alleged corruption and nepotism in the PSM.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 24th, 2010.

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