WHEN an aide to the prime minister introduced in the Senate a bill in March last year seeking to extend the free business-class domestic air travel facility for the parliamentarians to their families — spouses, children and one additional person — he immediately drew support from across the political divide. The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue was quick to unanimously approve the bill in June 2020 that would entitle the lawmakers’ families to avail 25 air tickets in addition to Rs300,000 travel vouchers a year. The Senators defended their decision, saying ‘all parliamentarians are not rich’, the changes were merely procedural and the extension of the facility to their family members would not place any additional financial burden on the public exchequer. That was a blatantly incorrect statement since the amendment would have allowed the legislators to get paid an allowance equivalent to their annual entitled value of the facility. Besides, the lawmakers and their families could fly any domestic route using this expensive facility, which was originally meant to facilitate only the members of the parliament travel from the airport closest to their constituencies to Islamabad and back.

The amendment practically made the facility a part of the salary of the parliamentarians. To his credit, PTI minister Hammad Azhar was perhaps the only one who opposed the bill, pointing out that the perk was meant to facilitate the lawmakers’ travel to attend the proceedings of parliament and could not be extended to their families. The Senate committee approval for the bill came at a time when people in the country were fighting for their lives and jobs amidst the coronavirus outbreak, which had brought the economy to a standstill and thrown millions out of work. Apparently, the government had also realised by then that it was not a good time to push the bill through because it could attract public outrage. Now it has transpired that the bill is being or has already been withdrawn: not because its movers thought it was a wrong step but because the government is said to have stealthily granted the wishes of the lawmakers by making their demands a part of its budget for the present fiscal year. That people were kept in the dark about it is reprehensible and the government owes an explanation to the taxpayers as to why should they also pay the parliamentarians to support their families’ lifestyle.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2021