May 19, 2006	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 18: A portion of the relief goods collected by the National Assembly’s parliamentary committee for the earthquake affected people was left locked up in a mosque of the parliament house to rot for the last seven months.

The committee, which was set up through a resolution passed in the National Assembly soon after the October 8 earthquake, also failed to spend Rs15.7 million collected through one-month salary contribution of the lawmakers.

The committee headed by Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain failed to hold regular meetings during the last three to four months and decided to wind up the committee and present the amount of Rs15.7 million either in the president’s earthquake relief fund or hand it over to Erra.

On the other hand, the Senate members contribution of one- month salary was immediately deposited in the president’s earthquake relief fund.

Inside sources told Dawn that the committee was informed in its last meeting on Thursday that while the MNAs and parliamentary secretaries’ contributions were received and collected, the share of ministers and ministers of state was missing from the amount.

The attitude of the whole National Assembly became so indifferent in a short time after the earthquake that none of them took any notice of the fate of the fund set up by their own contributions.

The food items including wheat flour, rice, pulses, etc., were said to have become uneatable and the committee decided to distribute the same haphazardly among some Kashmiri affectees in the town.

Earlier, it was reported in the press that the relief committee’s coordinator had left to celebrate Eid by locking up the room in which the goods were dumped.

The committee did send a few trucks to Azad Kashmir after some time but the quake affected people objected to the stickers of a federal minister and an MNA pasted on the packets.

The committee comprised ten MNAs, but it was expanded under pressure to around twenty members including some more lady legislators. The committee in its last meeting on Thursday remained undecided on how it could help the quake ravaged people, as some members said the committee should construct houses for the vulnerable while others had different ideas.