Parliamentarians express concern over non-allocation of funds for immunisation programme. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
An additional Rs2 billion needs to be injected into the country’s immunisation programme and a summary has been presented by the government on the same, the lower house of parliament was told on Friday.
The move is aimed at ensuring uninterrupted supply of vaccines for different diseases with the cooperation of the World Health Organisation and and Unicef, Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Secretariat Raja Javed Ikhlas said in his address to parliamentarians.
While submitting a notice, PPP parliamentarians— Azra Fazal Pechuho, Shazia Marri, Mir Aauz Hussain Jakhrani, Nafisa Shah and Ayaz Soomro— expressed concern over the “non-allocation of funds for the expanded programme on immunisation”.
In response to their concerns, Ikhlas stated that Rs2,700 million were required for the immunisation programme and the federal government has so far released Rs 2,200 million to the departments concerned. Out of the total, Rs477 million had been received from international agencies and the federal government allocated the remaining.
Elaborating further, he told the house that a hefty amount of Rs 1.3 billion lapsed last year due to underutilisation. He added that an additional amount of Rs 1.2 billion will also be required due to the depreciation in the Pakistani currency.
Ikhlas said that the Planning Commission had submitted a summary to the finance division seeking the aforesaid amount through supplementary grants. He said the government will provide the necessary funds to meet the requirements of the immunisation programme.
‘Crossing the domestic debt limit’
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Asad Umar accused the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of violating the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act-2005 by crossing the domestic debt limit.
Under the State Bank law, he said, the government is bound to reduce the borrowing to zero by the end of every quarter of the financial year, but it never follows the rule and is in continuous violation of it.
He argued that under the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act, 2005, Pakistan’s total debt should not exceed 60 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while it has increased to 63.7 % of GDP, which is in serious violation of the Act.
550 Pakistanis jailed abroad
The lower house of parliament was informed that more than 550 Pakistanis were imprisoned in different countries in North America, Europe, Russia and other Central Asian and African countries.
Responding to a question posed by the Jamaat-e-Islami MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah, the Foreign Office stated that these people have been detained for many years on charges of criminal activity including burglary, sexual assault, murder, immigration violations, illegal entry, terrorism, theft, robbery, human trafficking, administrative offences and drug trafficking.
The National Assembly was also informed about the bilateral agreements on the transfer of offenders with four countries—the UAE, the UK, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Under the Bilateral Agreements on Transfer of Offenders, 72 Pakistani prisoners have been transferred back to Pakistan. Out of the total, 42 were imprisoned in Sri Lanka and 32 in Thailand.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ