Thursday, May 15, 2008, Jamadi-ul-Awwal 8, 1429    

Karachi housing scandal being probed: Rehman
Govt to provide subsidy to people: Naveed Qamar

Islamabad—The Housing Scandal in Karachi was again echoed in the Senate session on Wednesday amid criticism from the treasury benches and justification from members of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) while the debate on inflation continued.
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik while talking on the financial irregularities in the allotment of land in Karachi informed the Upper House that the investigations regarding Housing Scandal and the financial irregularities in Punjab Bank are being continued and a inquiry report in this regard would be tabled before the House soon.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is investigating the irregularities in Punjab Bank, he added.
The issues of Housing Scandal was raised by Dr. Khalid Soomro who said that the scam of Rs. 4.5 billion in Housing Ministry was unearthed while the financial irregularities of Rs. 13 billion occurred in Bank of Punjab but no notice was taken on these scandals.
Commenting on the food shortage, he opined that there is no shortage of wheat and rice in the country but were being easily smuggled to the foreign countries, adding that the transportation has been banned among the districts.
He said that the inflation rate has risen immensely in the country after increase in the prices of the petrol and the alternative sources of generating the energy are required the attention of the government, he added. The people of the country have no choice but committing suicide due to high prices, added Dr. Khalid Soomro. Babar Ghauri of MQM while defending the Housing Scandal said that the government houses were allocated to the government employees and if it is wrong then we would repeat it.
Senator Khalid Ranjha while continuing the debate on the inflation said that the previous government failed to get the public mandate as people of the country were not satisfied with its performance.
He urged the government to improve its governance to control inflation, adding that the country could face sugar crisis if the owners of sugar mills did no pay the amount to sugar farmers.
Abdul Khaliq Pirzada while participating in the debate said that the country is approaching towards the civil war due to high rate of poverty and unemployment and the smuggling should be stopped to control the inflation.
Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan said that besides, the judiciary crises, the biggest problem, which the people of the country are facing, is the inflation, adding that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. He urged the government to take effective measure to control the inflation.
Senator Raza Muhammad Raza said that Pakistan is facing the same situation, which was created after the World War.
Incharge Minister for Finance Syed Naveed Qamar on Wednesday underlined that Government is taking pragmatic measures to provide relief to the masses stressing it has decided to provide direct subsidy. Wrapping up his debate on inflation Syed Naveed Qamar informed that government would introduce special package for the downtrodden masses in budget. He said that 200,000 ton additional rice will be provided in Utility Stores adding that government is giving a subsidy of Rs 22 per liter on Diesel which is too much.