1 (48th 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 Monday, the 6th November, 2017 137. *Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak: (Deferred from 46th Session) Will the Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the zakat is being deducted from salaries of the Government employees by banks who are already tax filers; if so, the justification thereof; (b) the year-wise zakat deducted from the salaries of said employees during the last five years till date alongwith the percentage and details thereof; and (c) whether there is any proposal under consideration of the Government to stop the said deduction; if so, the details thereof? Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony (Sardar Muhammad Yousaf): (a) Zakat is not deducted from the salaries of the Government employees. (b) As Zakat is not deducted from the salaries of the Government employees, the question of year wise zakat deduction from the salaries does not arise. (c) As Zakat is not deducted from the Salaries of the Government employees, the question of stopping the said deduction does not arise. 2 58. *Ms. Aisha Syed: Will the Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that Mujamla visas have not been issued to members of Parliament for Hajj-2017; if so, the reasons thereof; and (b) the total number of Mujamla visas issued for said Hajj? Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony (Sardar Muhammad Yousaf): (a) Mujamla Visa does not come under the domain of this Ministry. Mujamla visa is a courtesy visa which is issued by the Saudi Embassy as per their discretion, to those who approach them directly. (b) As explained above this Ministry is not involved in issuance of Mujamla Visas hence do not keep record of Mujamla visas issued by the Saudi Embassy. 59. *Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak: Will the Minister for Industries and Production be pleased to state whether it is a fact that Industries in Karachi are in serious crisis due to high rates of electricity and gas; if so, the steps taken by the Government to address the said issue? Minister for Industries and Production (Mr. Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi): No specific study has been carried out on impact of high rates of electricity and gas on Industries in Karachi. However, with respect to price of electricity, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) sets uniform tariffs for each category of consumers across Pakistan in line with the National Power Tariff and subsidy Policy Guideline 2014. Accordingly, the category wise tariff, being billed to consumers, is the same for all distribution companies including K-Electrics. 60. *Ms. Suraiya Jatoi: Will the Minister for Housing and Works be pleased to state whether it is a fact that the Government accommodations are not being 3 allotted to the employees of the Constitutional Bodies; if so, how will they be compensated for their accommodation needs? Minister for Housing and Works (Mr. Akram Khan Durrani): The employees of Consititutional Bodies are not eligible to get accommodation under Accommodation Allocation Rules,2002. A Summary for amendment in the Accommodation Allocation Rules,2002 has been submitted to the Prime Minister, wherein, amendment regarding eligibility of employees of constitutional bodies has also been included. Accordingly, the case of allotment of Government Accommodation to the employees of Constitutional Bodies shall be decided in accordance with the decision on the summary. 61. *Mr. Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi: Will the Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony be pleased to state: (a) the National Assembly Constituency-wise names, department, age and qualification of each Muavin sent for Hajj duties during Hajj-2017; (b) the names and departments of those Muavineen who were sent more than two times for Hajj duties since June, 2013 alongwith number of visits made by said Muavineen during the said period and justification thereof; (c) whether it is a fact that some employees of certain departments have been sent on Hajj duties repeatedly during the said period; if so, the justification thereof; (d) whether it is also a fact that the departments have sent its employees for Hajj duties during said period repeatedly and created a monopoly in the administrative affairs of Hajj which leads to mismanagement; if so, the details and notice taken by the Ministry in this regard; and (e) the steps being taken by the Ministry to formulate a uniform policy for selection of Muavineen for Hajj-2018? 4 Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony (Sardar Muhammad Yousaf): (a) Information may be glanced through at Annex-I. (b) Information may be glanced through at Annex-II. (c) Yes, They were nominated on the basis of their institutional memory and excellent performance/management during previous Hajj seasons in the great interest of Hujjaj. (d) No, it is not a fact. (e) Ministry has a comprehensive policy duly approved by the Federal Cabinet. However, improvements are made every year to ensure better services delivery to hujjaj. (Annexures have been placed in the National Assembly Library) 62. *Mr. Jamshed Ahmad Dasti: Will the Minister for Housing and Works be pleased to state whether it is a fact that funds have been released by the Government for repairing and renovation of the Government Houses of Category-I and II, Sector G-10/3, Islamabad; if so, the details; if not, the reasons thereof? Minister for Housing and Works (Mr. Akram Khan Durrani): It is stated that Central Civil Division-VIII, Pak PWD, Islamabad and Central E/M Division-II, Pak PWD, Islamabad are maintaining the houses of categories I and II Sector G-10/3, Islamabad including following houses of different categories: Categories —————————————————————————————— Sector/ I II III IV V VI Total Location —————————————————————————————— G-9/2 2 16 224 242 G-10/2 3 47 288 80 418 G-10/3 16 36 64 512 628 —————————————————————————————— 5 —————————————————————————————— Sector/ I II III IV V VI Total Location —————————————————————————————— G-11/4 112 128 512 752 NCRD 2 4 8 6 12 32 Income Tax 1 4 5 Colony Income Tax 2 6 8 Colony-II income Tax 12 12 Colony-III T.B Centre, 16 48 64 Rwp Peshawar 2 2 Road Rwp —————————————————————————————— Total 22 89 426 296 1046 284 2163 —————————————————————————————— The total funds of Rs.2.200 (M) [Rs.1.500 (M) for Civil and Rs. 0.700 (M) for E/M] have been allocated during current financial year for repair and maintenance of the aforesaid 2163 houses scattered in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The funds are allocated Division wise and not Sector wise. Out of above allocation Rs. 0.808 (M) has been released so far, for 1st and 2nd quarter, which has since been expended by Civil Division and E/M Division for attending complaints of different categories houses / flats. No separate funds are allocated for Houses of Cat. I & II Sector G-10/3, Islamabad. 63. *Dr. Shazia Sobia: Will the Minister for Water Resources be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the progress of works on Bhasha, Dasu, Akhori and Pattan Dams are very slow; if so, the reasons thereof; (b) the present status of works on said Dams; and (c) the dates on which construction works of said Dams will be completed separately? 6 Minister for Water Resources (Syed Javed Ali Shah): (a) DIAMER BASHA DAM PROJECT WAPDA has acquired 3.1696 acres of land out of total requirement of 37419 acres. Beside that, construction of infrastructure / preliminary works, i.e. project colony at Thor Valley, Composite Model Village-II at Harpan Dam are in progress. Work on the main dam could not be started due to non-arrangement of finances from donor agencies. Government has decided to finance the dam portion of the project through Federal PSDP. Therefore, the project has been bifurcated into two parts i.e. Dam Part and Power Generation Part. In this regard, PC-I of Dam Part has been submitted to the Planning Commission on 24-03-2107. The PC-I for implementation of Power Generation Part of the project will be submitted by the year 2020 after initiating progress on construction of dam. As per timeline given in PC-I (Dam Part), the dam will become operational after 9 years of commencement of works.. DASU HYDROPOWER PROJECT Dasu HPP has been facing problems in acquisition of land due to following reasons causing delays in project: (i) Dasu HPP is located in district Kohistan which is a non-settled area where land record is not available. WAPDA has established a separate ‘Land Acquisition& Assessment Unit under DC Kohistan which is responsible for preparation of revenue record. The survey and revenue record of some of the priority areas are in process of finalization and the remaining will be completed shortly. (ii) Interruptions by Local Affectees who are demanding higher land rates than the rates approved by ECNEC. Negotiations with affectees through DC office are underway to resolve the matter. AKHORI DAM PROJECT PC-II for Feasibility Study of Akhori Dam project (600 MW and 6.0 MAF) was approved by CDWP on 13-11-2003. The study was completed in 2006. This project is not included in PSDP of current year. Therefore, no work is 7 in progress on this project. However, as per priority of the Government and allocation of required resources further steps will be taken to implement the project. PATAN HYDROPOWER PROJECT It is a planned run-of river hydropower project on Indus River with 2400 MW capacity and no storage of water was completed in December, 2015.