State Minister for Industries and Production Dr Ayat Ullah Durrani informed the Senate that the country had sufficient urea stock against total demand of about 6.4 million tons. Responding to a call attention notice by Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Professor Khurshid he assured that there was no shortage of fertilisers in the country, as the government had taken timely steps to meet the domestic demands.
After the assurance the senator did not press for the notice. The minister said that the country had sufficient stock of urea against total demand of about 6.4 million tons, while it was producing about 5.4 million tones. He said that the gap of one million tons was being filled through imports.
The minister, however, admitted that prices of the fertilisers had been increased, as the local factories were not producing urea up to their capacity due to shortage of gas, adding that the prices would stabilise after the supply of gas to the factories.
Despite that, he added, the government was currently providing Rs 320 subsidy on a urea bag and during the last three years the government had given over Rs 31 billion as subsidy on fertilisers. Durrani said that the country had the capacity of producing 6.7 million tons fertilisers, while the government had a stock of 63,000 tones of urea allocated for flood affectees.
Earlier, Professor Khurshid Ahmed expressed concern over the increase in urea price by Rs 190 per bag. Meanwhile, Minister for Privatisation Waqar Ahmed Khan assured the House there was no plan either to directly or indirectly privatise Pakistan Post, rejecting a news report carried out by a section of press.
He was responding to an adjournment motion by Senator Professor Khurshid. Following the assurance, the Minister did not press the motion. Senator Mian Raza Rabbani earlier also asked the Minister to give a clear assurance to the House that there was no direct and indirect proposal under consideration to privatize Pakistan Post. The Minister said that there were around 47,000 workers in Pakistan Post and the government was working hard to improve the efficiency of the entity.
Senator Hamayyun Mandokhel, while speaking on a point of order, said that education and environment ministries were being devolved to the provinces without taken them into confidence. He said that the two were very important subjects and the devolution of the ministries would badly affect their performance.
However, chairman Implementation Commission on 18th Amendment, Mian Raza Rabbani clarified that all the ministries were taken into confidence prior to their devolution to the provinces under the amendment. He said that the Implementation Commission was not authorised to take any ministry back to federation, as it would be violation of the Constitution. He further said that those elements that were against the devolution process were hatching conspiracies.
Senator Tariq Azeem said that the American citizen involved in killing of two Pakistanis in Lahore should be given punishment according to law of the land. He suggested that his diplomatic passport and the visa should be considered as cancelled for committing the crime. Meanwhile, the House passed 'The West Pakistan Regulation and Control of Loudspeakers and Sound Amplifiers (Amendment) Bill, 2010.'