Routine absence: Senate body moves privilege motion against minister

Arbab Alamgir miss three consecutive meetings of standing committee.

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on Communication on Friday decided to move a privilege motion against Communication Minister Arbab Alamgir and the federal communication secretary for skipping three subsequent meetings of the committee.

The decision was taken by the committee at a meeting held in the Parliament House with its chairman Senator Dawar Khan Achakzai in the chair.

“Are we such idle people that we attend the meetings every time? Yet the minister and secretary routinely ignore the invitation of the committee,” said Senator Zahid Khan.

The members said that serious action should be taken against the secretary who, despite being a government official, ignore the directives of the committee every time.

The committee did not allow motorway police officials to give a briefing, saying that they are not in a position to implement the recommendation of the panel since the minister and secretary both are absent.

Postal service

Postal Service Minister Muhammad Omer Gorgage informed the committee that as many as 171 vacancies were given to Balochistan in the postal service under Aghaz-e-Huqooq Balochistan. “The ministry will establish 57 post offices in Balochistan,” the minister said.

Director General Postal Service Fazal Sattar, giving a briefing on the Electronic Money Order (EMO), said the system has been operational in many post offices including about 64 General Post Offices (GPOs) and it will be extended to 186 GPOs. The committee was also informed that Postal Service Regulatory Authority is being established for smooth functioning of the postal service across the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2013.