Expressing its grave displeasure, National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances has observed that there are some black sheep in different departments who avoid implementing good decisions of the government.

The committee met with Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar in the chair here at Parliament House on Wednesday and discussed the issues relating to the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and nonpayment of honorarium to employees of different departments during budget session of the National Assembly.

The committee chairman constituted a subcommittee under the convenership of Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah to look into the matter of nonpayment of honorarium to the employees of different departments. MNAs including Syed Javed Ali Shah Jillani, Muhammad Afzal Khokhar and Saira Bano will be the members of subcommittee.

The committee directed the sub-committee to complete the task quickly and furnish compliance report to the standing committee within 15 days. The standing committee was informed that some allied departments did not pay honoraria to their employees who have served during the budget sessions 2018-19 and 2019-20 in the precincts of National Assembly on full time basis.

The committee also recommended that the government should make arrangements for fuel at Rahim Yar Khan airport. These directions were given to Aviation Division and other concerned departments.

The committee also recommended that the passengers coming from Peshawar through M-I may be given easy access to Islamabad airport.

The standing committee was informed that Rahim Yar Khan airport is one of the international airports but there is no arrangement to fuel the aeroplanes. Due to which the aircraft of the PIA cannot transport the luggage from the airport so the luggage of the passengers is transported by bus from Rahim Yar Khan to Sukkur airport.

The committee directed that the government departments including Petroleum Division, Aviation Division and Civil Aviation Authority should overcome this deficiency forthwith by making state-of-the-art arrangements of provision of fuel facility to planes at Rahim Yar Khan airport.

The committee was informed that the passengers traveling from Peshawar to Islamabad Airport via M-I face great difficulty due to non-availability of interchange for them. The standing committee directed that a loop on the motorway may be constructed for the traffic coming from Peshawar for Islamabad airport without any further delay.

The committee was apprised that Aviation Division and Communications Division had already discussed the issue and agreed to resolve it. So, the National Highway Authority (NHA) would provide land whereas Civil Aviation Authority would provide funds for construction of interchange.

MNAs including Mujahid Ali, Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, Sardar Riaz Mahmood Khan Mazari, Syed Javed Husnain, Muhammad Afzal Khokhar, Syed Javed Ali Shah Jillani, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Saira Bano, Mehnaz Akber Aziz, and Sher Akbar Khan, and secretary parliamentary affairs and other senior civil officers attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019