ISLAMABAD, April 4: The Senate finance committee on Tuesday approved the budget estimates for the year 2006-07. Presiding over a committee meeting at the Parliament House, Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro said the finance committee was playing its monitoring role effectively.

We should be self-critical and opt for austerity while spending the public money and it was in this spirit that the expenditures of the Senate Secretariat were being kept within the authorized appropriations, he said.

The committee gave unanimous approval to miscellaneous expenditures incurred by the Senate Secretariat on various accounts.

The finance committee noted with satisfaction that the Senate Secretariat had fully implemented the decisions taken by it regarding policy for promotion of Senate Secretariat employees.

The meeting was also attended by senators Mohammad Ali Durrani, Razina Alam Khan, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Prof Khurshid Ahmed and Rukhsana Zuberi. Senate Secretary Raja Mohammad Amin, Ministry of Finance Secretary Tanvir Agha and senior officers of the Senate Secretariat were also present.