1 (31st Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ———— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Friday, the 2nd April, 2021 30. *Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Behan: (Deferred during 29th Session) Will the Minister for Aviation Division be pleased to state the reasons of shifting the PIA Head Office and other relevant offices from Karachi to Islamabad? Minister for Aviation Division (Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Khan): The factual position is that the Head Office of PIACL is in Karachi and not being shifted to Islamabad. PIA is in the process of improving and restructuring the airline to make it a profitable venture despite severe constraints particularly COVID 19 Pandemic that has impacted airlines industry including PIACL. Presently, PIA is operating maximum flights from North of Pakistan, therefore, to meet the operational requirements, few departments have been shifted to Islamabad to run the operation smoothly. 31. *Ch. Muhammad Barjees Tahir: (Deferred during 29th Session) Will the Minister In-charge of the Establishment Division be pleased to state: (a) the employment generation programmes of the Government in the country, the details thereof; (b) the number of employment opportunities generated by Federal Government during the last two years alongwith province-wise break-up of the same; and 2 (c) the province-wise details of fields, in which employment generated and cost incurred thereon by the Government in the said process? Transferred to Planning Development and Special Initiatives Division for answer on Next Rota Day. 32. *Dr. Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro: (Deferred during 29th Session) Will the Minister for Aviation Division be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that PIA’s total debt was reported to be 400 billion Pakistani rupees by June 30th, 2019 against the airline, whereas currently losses are reported as 6.3 billion rupees per month; (b) the details of annual profit/loss incurred by PIA during the last three years; and (c) what steps are being taken by the Government to enhance performance of National carriers PIA? Minister for Aviation Division (Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Khan): (a) PIA’s total debt as of 30th June, 2019 was Rs. 286.01 Billion instead of Rs. 400 Billion that includes GoP guaranteed loans, Loans from GoP, Loans on PIA Balance Sheet and Markup whereas average monthly loss for the year 2019 remained Rs. 644 Million. (b) Year wise profit/ loss incurred by PIA during the last three years is as under: —————————————————————————————— Operating Losses PKR in Million —————————————————————————————— 2018 (32,081) 2019 (7,723) 2020 (till September, 2020) (8,702) —————————————————————————————— 3 (c) PIA is incurring losses for the past few years due to legacy loans. The present Government is very keen to make it self­reliant. Efforts are underway to improve the financial health of the Corporation by reducing its losses/deficit through various means. Route rationalization exercise has been carried out. Loss making routes have been closed and flights on profitable routes have been added which has resulted in reduction of losses. Financial & HR restructuring is being carried out. In line with the HR restructuring process, Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) was offered to reduce HR cost. 1925 employees have opted for VSS. Airline’s core and non­core functions are being separated for which process has been started. • The current Management of PIA is working tirelessly for the revival of the airline in a phased manner. All the steps have been taken by Management to ensure discipline, performance, improving governance of the organization, focus on aggressive sale and marketing, closure of loss making routes and expansion of productive routes. Agreements involving financial cost have been reviewed in line with the best industry practices. 33. *Mr. Muhammad Afzal Khokhar: (Deferred during 29th Session) Will the Minister In-charge of the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that large number of people, who are living their lives below the poverty line in the country, either could not get registered themselves in BISP or any other Government programme of different nomenclature; (b) whether it is also a fact that the peoples were deleted from such programmes set for such programmes; (c) whether it is further a fact that such deserving people neither have any right of appeal of their rejection from aforesaid programmes nor prudent data upon which their applications are rejected duly re-verified by third party; (d) if the answers to part (a) and (b) above are in affirmative, what steps are being taken by the Government to give right of appeal 4 to such people, re-verify already complied data and revisit benchmarks set out for such programms in order to provide benefit to more deserving peoples? Minister In-charge of the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division: (a) Beneficiaries of Ehsaas Kafaalat Programme (EKP) are identified/ selected through scientific mode of National Socio Economic (NSER) survey based on Proxy Means Test (PMT) that determines the welfare status of the household on a scale between 0­100. The PMT cut­off score for eligibility is decided on the basis of available fiscal space and all families falling under the approved PMT cut­off score are being provided cash assistance under EKP. The door to door NSER survey, 2019­21 is currently ongoing which is expected to be completed by June, 2021. Ehsaas Registration desks are also being established at district level for those persons who are either missed during door to door survey or want to update the particulars already provided in survey exercise. (b) Majority of the beneficiaries of EKP were identified/selected through NSER Survey carried out in 2010­11, and the remaining beneficiaries have been identified/selected through ongoing NSER survey. As the demographic and socio economic status as well as the composition of households change with time, some of the beneficiaries who are eligible under NSER survey, 2010­11 will not be declared eligible under ongoing NSER survey, as they would have become relatively better­off. It is also pertinent to mention that as per policy decision taken by BISP Board as well as approved by the Federal Cabinet, BISP beneficiary profiling exercise was conducted in coordination with NADRA. As a result of this exercise, around 830,000 beneficiaries were exited from the programme who fell under any of the following categories; i. Traveled abroad (self) once ii. Traveled abroad (spouse) once iii. Traveled abroad (self) more than once iv. Traveled abroad (spouse) more than once v. One or more vehicles registered (self) vi. One or more vehicles registered (spouse) vii. Average monthly PTCL bill of more than PKR 1,000 (self) viii. Average monthly PTCL bill of more than PKR 1,000 (spouse) ix. Applied passport via executive centers (self) x. Applied passport via executive centers (spouse) 5 xi. Beneficiary’s three or more family members applied CNIC with executive fee xii. Government employee (self) xiii. Government employee (spouse) xiv. High income (Self) xv. High income (Spouse) xvi. Employees of public sector companies/corporations (self) xvii. Employees of public sector companies/corporations (spouse) (c) The above mentioned 830,000 beneficiaries were excluded from the programme after extensive analysis of various databases by NADRA. However, an appeal mechanism for such blocked beneficiaries is currently being prepared. Once approved by BISP Board, the same will be implemented and all such beneficiaries will be able to lodge their appeals for review. (d) As above. 34. *Shazia Marri: (Deferred during 29th Session) Will the Minister for Aviation Division be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that a United Nation recognized body of Aviation Industry has recently cautioned Pakistan International Airline and Civil Aviation Authority to fix matters ancillary thereto; (b) whether country has to face the situation of restrictions, which may also include complete ban on aviation activities in the country; if so, the details thereof; and (c) what corrective measures are being taken by the Government in this regard? Minister for Aviation Division (Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Khan): (a) Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) is signatory to International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO). ICAO regularly monitors and audits all member states. Similarly, European Commission (EC) also monitors that States ensure safety oversight of air carriers registered in their countries. 6 In wake of the Pilot license issue in June 2020, ICAO and EC inquired about the details and raised number of concern. PCAA immediately established contact with these organizations and maintained close liaison. In order to satisfy them, PCAA responded to all the questions and provided required documents and evidences within given timelines. Both ICAO and EASA appreciated the efforts and coordination of PCAA in providing the required details. The last response to significant safety concerns raised by ICAO was submitted by PCAA on 27th Jan, 2021 which has been reviewed by ICAO. As per ICAO procedures, complete closure of safety concerns is subject to validation / audit. ICAO has scheduled an audit from 05 to 15th July, 2021. However, EC has not yet informed about their schedule. (b) The only restriction imposed by ICAO was that PCAA suspends the issuance of new pilot licenses. It is expected that this restriction will be removed after the validation audit in July 2021. Apart from this, European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) suspended the Third Country Operator (TCO) authorization to PIA in July 2020. The suspension was based on concerns regarding implementation of Safety Management System by PIA as well as pilot licenses issue. It is expected that ICAO audit from 05 to 15th July 2021 will address the concerns ICAO as well as EC and will result in lifting the restrictions.