Senate body concerned over PHDEB's performance

Senate's Standing Committee on Commerce on Thursday expressed concerns on the performance of Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board (PHDEB) and directed its board to submit a report in this regard within 15 days. "The meeting of the board has not been arranged since April 2010 while there are also complaints about unnecessary deployment of employees, which are causing extra financial burden on the board", Senator Haroon informed the committee.
The committee met here under the chairmanship of Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour with its members Ishaq Dar, Haroon Khan, Gulshan Saeed, Ahmad Ali and Semeen Siddiqui. The committee expressed its concern over the absence of Commerce Minister, Makhdoom Amin Faheem in the meeting and Senators Ahmad Ali and Semeen Siddiqui walked out from the meeting in protest. Zafar Mehmood, Secretary Commerce, however, assured the Committee that the minister would attend next meeting.
The committee recommended that the board meeting of PHDEB should be called as soon as possible and the Chief Executive Officer should be included as a member of its board. On the occasion, PHDEB CEO, Bashir Hussain told the committee that there is no charter of financial and services rules for the board and now he has completed the charter, which would be presented to Ministry of Finance for final approval. He said that PHDEB has been facing a lot of problems, especially financial ones and employees of PHDEB are not being paid their salaries for last three months.
About the performance of PHDEB, the CEO apprised the committee that the board has achieved significant milestones and remained successful in attracting the international market for exporting its products especially kinnow and mangoes. The committee also reviewed performance of Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and directed it to properly manage stocks of sugar and urea, saying that in future, any mismanagement in purchasing and selling of sugar would not be tolerated. Senator Ishaq Dar said that during August to December 2010, prices of sugar went up to rupees 120 per kg due to the mismanagement of TCP. Another issue that the committee reviewed was about the amendment in "Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design Act, 2010"