17 October 2004	Sunday	02 Ramazan 1425

QUETTA, Oct 16: Provincial assembly Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar on Friday constituted a committee to review the charges of rooms and transport for members at the Balochistan House in Islamabad.

The committee was formed after a debate on an adjournment motion moved by opposition members, who complained that the rates at the Balochistan House were higher than those charged by rest houses of other provinces in the capital.

Concluding the debate, Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yusuf assured the house that the government would implement the recommendations of the committee to facilitate the representatives of the people.

Jam Mohammad Yusuf said the Balochistan House officials would be directed to treat the elected members from the province with respect.

The opposition members said the charge for single room at the Balochistan House was Rs1,000 and for double room Rs1,200, while ministers and officials paid Rs700 and Rs875.

They said the transport charges for the assembly members were also high.

The said the NWFP government did not charge the elected representatives for stay of up to three days in Frontier House and Rs300 was charged for stay at Sindh House.

Services and General Administration Minister Mir Abdur Rehman Jamali will lead the committee and the revenue minister, Jan Jamali, Dr. Shama Ishaque, Rehila Durani, Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and Jan Mohammad Buledi will be its members.

The house passed an amended joint resolution tabled by Mr Ziaratwal that demanded that the Water and Power Development Authority should change its criteria for the Quetta Electricity Supply Company's village extension programme so that the scattered population in the province could benefit from it.

The speaker admitted for discussion an adjournment motion of Sardar Azam Musakhel of the PMAP about cutting of trees in the Koh-i-Suliman forest for fuel.

Sardar Azam Musakhel said people would not have destroyed trees if the government had provided gas to the area. The motion will be discussed on Monday.

A privilege motion of Shah Zaman Rind of the Pakistan Muslim League was disposed of when the senior minister assured the mover that the allocation in the Public Sector Development Programme for the Bolan dam project would be discussed in a meeting on Oct 18. The senior ministersaid work on the project could not be started because of re-estimation of its cost.

On a point of order of Majid Achakzai, the speaker asked the education minister to direct the non-government organizations to recruit local youth.

On the suggestion of the minister, the speaker asked Mr Achakzai to table a resolution in this regard.

The session was adjourned till Monday.