ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved, in principle, Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) of 3,500 employees of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) with an estimated cost of over Rs12 billion.
The ECC meeting presided over by Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, sources said, gave, in principle, approval to the VSS because it remains unclear as to how many employees would be willing to avail it and that was the reason that the adviser suggested that the scheme should be offered first to determine its cost based on the number of employees who wanted to accept it.
On a summary moved by the PIACL and the Aviation Division regarding government cash support for the VSS, the ECC after discussion, decided to approve, in principle, the voluntary separation from service scheme for the PIA.
The ECC meeting considered a heavy agenda and approved four separate Technical Supplementary Grants for the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior for various projects of fiscal year 2020-2021, and defence division's proposal to build a fence on Pak-Iran border may cost around Rs26 billion.
The meeting also gave its concurrence to the Petroleum Division's proposal, in principle, regarding allocation of gas from Bashar X-IST to third party of up to 1.0 MMCFD.
On a proposal of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, the ECC approved a budgetary allocation of Rs53 million in favour of National Information Technology Board (NITB) for provision of ICT services at the Prime Minister's Office for Prime Minister's Kamyab Jawan Programme for fiscal year 2020-2021.
On a summary moved by the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication regarding manufacturing of SIMs/Smart-cards in Pakistan, the adviser on finance following a detailed deliberation directed to constitute a committee to examine the proposal and present a report for a way forward within two weeks.
The committee would be headed by the Minister of Industries and Production Hammad Azhar with representatives from the Ministry of information technology and telecom, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the Board of Investment (BOI) as its members.
The meeting of the ECC decided to form a Committee consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) to decide a timeline for export of mango and kinnow as suitable by the aforesaid committee after due consultations with stakeholders.
Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, SAPM on Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, SAPM on Petroleum Nadeem Baber and Advisor to the Prime Minister for Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain attended the meeting.
Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Reza Baqir also participated through a video link.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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