He said that there were 104 flights to New York in a year and decision to suspend the operation was taken after sustaining heavy losses in the span of 10 to 12 years. Elahi told the committee that at present there was no PIA flight to New York and the operation was suspended because it was too costly.
The committee members expressed serious concerns over the suspension of the flights to New York and blamed it on the incompetence of the PIA bosses. "Why didn't you prefer to resign instead of closing the operation?" committee member Mian Tariq Mehmood asked the PIA chairman, adding, "You've no right to remain further at the office if you are unable to improve the situation of the national flag carrier." The PIA chairman, while responding, said that he has an additional charge of the airline and was "ready to leave", "I am secretary Aviation Division and not taking salary for the additional charge of the PIA. I am even ready to leave but being a government servant, it requires an official notification," he added.
With regard to the problems being faced by parliamentarians due to delay in domestic flights, he told the committee that like other airlines, the PIA flights were also getting late due to a number of reasons such as technical faults, weather conditions and heavy traffic. However, he said that Passenger Handling Service (PHS) always facilities the parliamentarians at the airports, including seat allocation of choice and bulkhead seat on priority. He said that assistance was also provided to the parliamentarians at the airports through deployment of dedicated staff and porter services. To a question, he said that at present only three PIA planes have been grounded out of total strength of 37.
However, the committee members expressed dissatisfaction over the briefing, as convener Shezra Mansab Ali Khan stated that parliamentarians were facing serious difficulties to reach the Senate and National Assembly sessions on time as well as attending the parliamentary committees' meetings. The committee also expressed grave annoyance over the poor performance of the PIA and directed the management to take concentrated measures to improve the existing deteriorated situation of the national flag-carrier.
Senior officials of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) also briefed the committee on the Election Act, 2017 and delimitation process. They informed the panel that a Delimitation Committee is being constituted to prepare draft proposals for delimitation of constituencies of National Assembly and provincial assemblies of the four provinces. It was also informed that a separate Delimitation Committee shall be constituted for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) which will prepare draft proposals for delimitation of constituencies of the National Assembly from these areas.
The committee also recommended the allocation of reserved seats for women from FATA in the National Assembly. Shahid Ahmed Sandhu, Joint Secretary Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, briefed the committee about the government assurances to the National Assembly and the Senate and said that it is the responsibility of the committee to process government assurances, obtain implementation status on the government assurances and maintain records of pending and disposed of government assurances.
He also informed the committee that since 2013, federal minister for parliamentary affairs has given a total of 152 assurances on behalf of various ministries/ departments /organization including Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. It was informed that out of 152 assurances, only six government assurances relate to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and no assurances are pending pertaining to this ministry. MNAs Malik Ihtebar Khan, Sheikh Muhammad Akram, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Rasheed Ahmad Khan, Shazia Mubashar, Dr Shazia Sobia and Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak also attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017