1 (52nd 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 16th February, 2018 11. *Syed Imran Ahmad Shah: (Deferred during 50th Session) Will the Minister In-charge of the Establishment Division be pleased to state: (a) the names, designations and departments of Government servants who have applied and got foreign nationalities during the last ten years; (b) whether said servants obtained prior permission by the Government; (c) if the answer to part (b) above is in negative, whether this is tantamount to misconduct; if so, the total number of Government Servants against whom actions have been taken by the Government so far? Minister In-charge of the Establishment Division: (a), (b), & (c) The Question of Honourable Member was circulated to all 43 Ministries / Divisions under the Federal Government on 05-12-2017. 40 Federal Ministries / Divisions have given ‘Nil” report: —————————————————————————————— Sr.# Name of Ministry / Division —————————————————————————————— 1. Cabinet Division 2. M/o Maritime Affairs 3. M/o Industries & Production —————————————————————————————— 2 —————————————————————————————— Sr.# Name of Ministry / Division —————————————————————————————— 4. Power Division 5. Petroleum Division 6. M/o Commerce 7. M/o Narcotics Control 8. M/o Foreign Affairs 9. Federal Board of Revenue 10. M/o Overseas Pakistanis 11. M/o Water Resources 12. M/o communication 13. Establishment Division 14. M/o Religious Affairs 15. M/o Privatization 16. M/o Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit Baltistan 17. Statistics Division 18. National Security Division 19. M/o Planning Development & Reform 20. M/o Science & Technology 21. Finance Division 22. M/o Human Rights 23. M/o States & Frontier Region 24. M/o Parliamentary Affairs 25. Economic Affairs Division 26. M/o, Defence Production 27. M/o Federal Education and Professional Training. 28. M/o National Health Services 29. M/o Law and Justice 30. Capital Administration Development Division (CADD) 31. National History and Literary Heritage Division 32. M/o Interior 33. M/o Inter Provincial & Coordination 34. M/o Information Technology & Telecommunication. 35. Defence Division 36. Postal Services Division 37. Railways Division 38. Textile Division 39. Housing & Works Division 40. M/o Climate Change —————————————————————————————— 3 The following three Ministries / Divisions have submitted their reply regarding who have applied and got foreign nationalities:— i. Aviation Division (Annex-I). ii. Information and Broadcasting Division (Annex-II). iii. National Food Security & Research Division (Annex-III). (Annexures have been placed in the National Assembly Library) 171. *Mr. Sher Akbar Khan: (Deferred during 51st Session) Will the Minister In-charge of the Capital Administration and Development Division be pleased to state: (a) the total number of dispensaries/hospitals operating in the rural areas of Islamabad including Tarnol, Koral and Bhara Kahu; (b) the facilities available in said hospitals at present; (c) the hospital-wise names of doctors working in said hospitals at present; and (d) whether there is any proposal under consideration of the Government to establish full fledge hospitals for said areas; if so, when it will be established? Transferred to Interior Division for answer on Next Rota Day. @48. *Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak: Will the Minister In-charge of the Cabinet Division be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that Pakistan is producing the most costly elecricity at present as compared to other countries of the region; if so, the reasons thereof: (b) if the answer to part (a) above is in the negative, the comparative of the per unit cost of electricity with at least two countries of the region of Pakistan? ____________________________________________________________ @ Transferred from Power Division. 4 Minister In-charge of the Cabinet Division: (a) & (b) comparative analysis of consumer end tariff currently being applicable in Pakistan vis-a-vis Dhaka, Bangladesh & Mumbai, India is attached as Annexure A. Regarding Residential category the rates applicable in Pakistan are comparable with regional benchmark of Mumbai (India) and Dhaka (Bangladesh). Regarding industrial consumers, although the base tariff seems to be on the higher side, however, the government provides an industrial support package of Rs. 3/kWh to all industrial consumers every month. Here it is pertinent to mention that in case of XWDISCOs in Pakistan, the consumers except Agriculture and Residential (having consumption less than 300 kWh/ month) are getting the benefit of lower fuel price every month which ranges between negative PKR 2­3/kWh, whereas, in Mumbai (India) a positive FCA charged which is around positive PKR 1/kWh. Regarding bulk supply category, no regional benchmarks have been found, however, a category i.e. group housing societies, somewhat similar in nature to bulk consumer category at 11kV is available in Mumbai, India. On the Agriculture side, Pakistan consumer end classification is more refined, whereas in case of Dhaka, Bangladesh and Mumbai, India there is only one category. A comparative analysis of the tariff applicable in Pakistan vis-a-vis Dhaka (Bangladesh) & Mumbai (India) is attached herewith. Sources: Dhaka, Bangladesh tariff available at https://www.desco.org.bd/ index.php?page=tariff-rate-2 Mumbai, India tariff available at https://cp.tatapower.com/irj/go/km/docs/documents/Public%20Documents/Customer Portal/pdf/Direct.pdf FCA Decision of Mumbai India available at https://sangam.tatapower.com:1443/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/zfac rates display pdf?&P MONTH=02&P YEAR=2018# (Annexure has been placed in the National Assembly Library) 88. *Ms. Surriya Asghar: Will the Minister In-charge of the Capital Administration and Development Division be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the Officers of the division are not capable to administer the affairs of the Division; 5 (b) whether it is also a fact that some consultants have been hired for running the affairs of the Division; if so, the justification thereof; and (c) the time by which the institutional capacity of the Division will be improved to conduct its business through its officers instead of consultants? Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division (Dr. Tariq Fazal Chudhary): (a) The officers of the Capital Administration & Development Division are fully capable to administer the affairs of the Division. This Division provides opportunities to all Officers to improve their capacity building through workshops, seminars and training courses from time to time. The officers of this Division are also nominated for promotion training courses i.e. MCMC SMC and NMC in National Institute of Management College (NIM). There is deficiency of officers In CA&DD. The following posts are vacant at present; iv. Joint Secretary (BS-20) 01 v. Deputy Secretary (BS-19) 01 vi. Section Officer (BS-17/18) 06 This Division has already requested the Establishment Division for posting of 08 officers against the vacant posts as shown above. (b) No consultants have been hired by this Division in main Secretariat since its creation. (c) Nil 89. *Mr. Junaid Akbar: Will the Minister In-charge of the Aviation Division be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the cargo staff of PIA steal valuables from the luggage of passengers; (b) if so, the number of employees against whom actions have been taken since June, 2013; 6 (c) the details of the nature of the actions thereof; and (d) the steps being taken to control such theft? Minister In-charge of the Aviation Division: (a) Pilferage or stealing from luggage of passengers is not unusual in airline industry unfortunately PIA also is no exception. Dishonest baggage handlers are primarily responsible for such theft, while the luggage is being loaded in the aircraft holds. However, thefts have also been known to occur at security checkpoints (not controlled by airlines) before the traveler even boards the plane. (b) Action was taken on 30th October 2015 against 18 Baggage Handlers, hired through contractor, in connection with a complaint about their involvement in suspicious activities including pilferage from luggage. They were all terminated from service and their Airport Entry Passes were confiscated. (c) Such complaints about pilferage from passenger’s luggage are invariably investigated by PIA’ s Security Division. In some of the cases, no clue is found about the alleged theft. However, if it is established on the basis of CCTV footage or other reliable sources, that the evidence against the accused Baggage Handlers is undisputed they are placed under suspension and disciplinary proceedings are initiated against them. Besides, police is called for help and such employees face criminal cases in Court of Law. Daily-wages Baggage Handlers face outright termination from job. (d) Following steps are being taken to control such theft:- (i) Surveillance of Baggage Handling/build-up area through CCTV. (ii) Increased frisking/screening of Baggage Handlers through Airport Security Force and PTA’s own Security staff. (iii) Creating awareness among passengers to keep their checked bags locked and always watch their bags even if they are passing through the security scanners. (iv) Requesting passengers through text messages to keep their valuable objects with them and don’t store them in their checked bags. (v) Emphasizing to passengers to know what they have