ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that a summary for the formation of a pay and pension committee had been sent to the prime minister for approval.
Responding to a question by MNA Ramesh Lal, the finance ministry said: "The composition of a pay and pension committee is still under process and it would be set up shortly."
The MNA had asked when the committee would be constituted and when would submit its report. In his former capacity as finance minister, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had announced an interim relief for pensioners in his budget speech and promised that a committee would be set up which would submit its report for permanent relief by Dec 2004.
When pressed for a deadline by the MNAs, Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub said he could not give a specific timeframe. "I do not have a timer. The prime minister said the committee would be constituted," he said.
In response to a question by MNA Rana Mehmoodul Hasan, Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said the first wheat import tender was cancelled by the government in August this year.
He said the Purchase and Price Evaluation Committee did not accept the bids as all of them were loaded with counter-conditions relating to specifications, certifications, arbitration and shipment conditions. Acceptance of any such conditions would have created complications and possible litigation from other contenders.
The minister said that under the terms and conditions of the tender, bidders were not required to send any samples to the Trading Corporation of Pakistan and hence the question of results of the test reports did not arise.
The minister further said the TCP had awarded contracts for import of 926,000mt of wheat. He said the first vessel carrying Russian wheat arrived at Port Qasim on Sept 12. Another 17 vessels would reach Pakistan by the middle of December, he said.
SMUGGLED VEHICLES: The National Assembly was informed that 910 smuggled vehicles were confiscated during past two years. The information placed before the house showed that 390 smuggled vehicles had been auctioned by the government, while cases of another 336 were under process.
In response to a question by MNA Fauzia Wahab, the government informed the house that the Khushali Bank extended loans to small borrowers at 20 per cent rate of return.
