Ministers’ foreign trips cost Rs65.2m, NA told

Session adjourned indefinitely for lack of quorum

ISLAMABAD:

The Cabinet Division has disclosed the expenses incurred by ministers during their foreign visits in 2022.

A total of Rs65.2 million were spent, with Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel spending the most out of these.

In the session of the National Assembly (NA), the Cabinet Division presented the written details of the foreign visits of the ministers in the house.

According to the details, 25 federal ministers, and ministers of state made foreign visits in 2022.

The lower house was told that over Rs10.4 million were incurred on the foreign trips of the health minister, over Rs2.491 million were spent on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's trips and over Rs4.569 million were spent on his predecessor Miftah Ismail's foreign trips.

Moreover, Rs649,157 were spent on Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb's visit and over Rs2.644 million on Federal Minister Khurram Dastgir's visit.

Lastly, over Rs4.917 were spent on the foreign visits of Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly (NA) session has been adjourned indefinitely due to the lack of interest and absence of lawmakers.

The deputy speaker expressed anger over the matter, and said that the ministers do not come to the house, and it cannot be run like this.

Moreover, on Monday, the schedule of the joint session of the parliament was changed. The session will now be held on March 15 at 4 pm, and a notification has been issued in this regard.

During the NA session presided over by Deputy Speaker Zahid Ikram Durrani, MNA Alia Kamran presented a notice calling attention to the increasing crimes against women in Islamabad.

However, the minister of interior and the minister of state for interior were not present in the house to answer

So, the attention notice was postponed till the arrival of the minister.

Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir was supposed to move a motion, but he was not present in the house either.

On this, the deputy speaker expressed indignation and said that the session could not be conducted in this way.

After this, the NA session was adjourned for an indefinite period.

During the session, a bill for the establishment of Kalam Bibi International Women's Institute was presented in the house.

On the other hand, Ghous Baksh Khan Mahar pointed out that the country is suffering from financial difficulties while Rs65.2 million were spent on foreign trips.

The deputy speaker sent the matter to the concerned committee for details.