ISLAMABAD, April 6: The government told the National Assembly on Tuesday that it was taking measures to check monopolies in the industrial sector through amendments to the relevant law.

Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Omar Ayub assured the lower House that the finance ministry was cognizant of the situation. He said they were considering introducing amendments to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (Control and Prevention) Ordinance 1970 for the ultimate benefit of the people of Pakistan.

He was replying to a private member bill moved by Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP, suggesting amendments to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (Control and Prevention). The bill, however, was rejected when the House refused to grant leave to introduce the proposed amendments when put to vote.

Though the parliamentary secretary opposed the amendment suggested by the opposition member, he said his views would be considered before finalizing suggestions to amend the law after holding public hearings.

He also assured the member that his proposal to make the Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) stronger would also be considered. He told the House that the MCA was not a rigid body, but a living organizations as the ordinance had been amended from time to time.

Mr Ayub said a US-based telecommunication company was divided to break its monopoly, and that a civil suit was also pending with a US court against a software giant only with the objective to check its monopoly. Earlier, Naveed Qamar, while moving his bill, said the purpose of the amendment was to check monopoly by breaking cartels and the practices of hoarding.

He stressed the need for making the MCA more powerful to check monopolies by industrialists in different sectors like sugar, cement, steel etc., through uniform prices.

Mr Qamar termed his proposed amendment as a public interest bill meant to protect the consumers by suggesting stringent punishments against monopolization by the industrialists in the absence of any consumer protection laws.

"It is the job of the politicians to protect our citizens when there is no organization to check the prices of the commodities," he observed, adding that farmers were the most downtrodden community in the country since they had been suffering due to increased prices of agricultural inputs.

The amendment also talks of giving security of tenure to the MCA chief so that strong measures could be taken. Earlier, on a calling attention notice, Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan told the House that he would discuss the matter of shifting of a burn unit from Faisalabad to Lahore with the provincial health minister.

He was replying to the calling attention notice moved by Rana Asif Tauseef, Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema, Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, Malik Amin Aslam Khan and Begum Bushra Rehman. The members expressed concern over the shifting of the burn unit from Allied Hospital Faisalabad to Lahore.

Mr Tauseef said the Baitul Mal, which was a federal organization, had sanctioned Rs150 million to build the burn unit in the industrial city of Faisalabad, having a population of 7.5 million. At present, there was only a 10-bed ward for the treatment of burn patients at the Allied Hospital.

Mr Abbasi said the amount to establish the burn unit was provided by the Markazi Baitul Maal, which was a federal government organization, and therefore, the provincial government had nothing to do with it.

The minister, however, conceded that it was important to build the burn unit as it was a genuine requirement of the city. But since the matter pertained to the provincial government, he said he could not give any assurance in this regard.