PSM suffering losses worth Rs206b, NA told

ISLAMABAD:

The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that the total losses incurred by the defunct Pakistan Steels Mills (PSM) stood at Rs206 billion and that the entity’s deficit had reduced by selling off its scrap and reducing the number of employees.

The lower house session was presided over by Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

During the question answer session, Parliamentary Secretary for Industries and Production Shahida Rahmani said that steps were being taken to reduce the deficit of the PSM.

She said that the entity’s losses gradually reduced by selling off its scrap and limiting the number of its employees.

PSM – country’s largest distressed and industrial enterprise – had been closed since 2015 due to financial losses.

At the time of shut down, the mills had approximately 15,000 employees.

The entity’s privatisation process, which started in 2019 by the then ruling PTI government and continued by the incumbent regime, is yet to materialise in the absence of any clearance from the Council of Common Interests.

The parliamentary secretary told the lower house that PSM had incurred a total loss of Rs206 billion, adding that from 2017 till 2022, the mills suffered losses worth Rs69 billion.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly turned down a resolution to release Rs21 billion for holding elections in the country, on the orders of the Supreme Court.

The resolution was presented by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the House would not accept any decision made by a three-judge bench of the apex court.

He said, “no institution should dictate the parliament”.

Addressing the House, Balochistan National Party (BNP) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal regretted that his province faced the same “bloody situation” until today when the golden jubilee of the Constitution was being celebrated as was during 1973 when the Constitution was approved.

The BNP chief noted that some people had violated Constitution to maintain their hegemony, questioning whether they ever were brought to justice.

Equating both, he lamented that the situation in Balochistan was as hapless as the powerful violated Constitution in the country.

“Dictators violated the Constitution. Could we ever bring even one of them to justice?” he questioned.

“Did we ask anyone from a general to a sepoy why they ‘played’ with the Constitution?”

Mengal lamented that the powerful “used” Constitution for their vested interests and spoke about Balochistan when only for political gains.

“Armymen and employees of other institutions take oath under this Constitution,” he said.

The BNP chief regretted a common man was punished for breaking a traffic signal but the powerful went away even after violating the Constitution.