PTA asked to stop issuing illegal SIMs in 15 days
Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
The law makers belonging to opposition on Tuesday strongly opposed a bill which seeks inclusion of e-education and e-health in the mandate of Universal Service Fund, which was established only for serving the unserved areas of the country including provision of fiber optic to particular areas.
The legislators were of the view that after 18th Constitutional Amendment, both education and health were devolved subjects.
Provinces can manage wisely as compared to spending by federal government on education and health.
The discussions were made in National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, which held in parliament house while Ali Khan Jadoon was in the chair.
Chairman of the committee was of the view that if the USF provided fiber optic to un-served areas of the country, the e-education and e-health issues would be resolved automatically. In this situation, he said there was no need to expand the mandate of the USF.
PPP leader Naz Baoch was of the view that there was no need to pass such law because both health and education were devolved subjects and provinces can manage these departments in good manner.
She also said that the USF failed to provide optic fiber in Maliyer Karachi one school in two-and-a-half year, how it would sever the whole country, she questioned.
Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader Ali Gohar said this was a technical issue and we all parliamentarians were not expert on the subject matter.
“We will take view from experts and then come to any conclusion to pass or reject the bill”, he added and saying that the issue should be deferred for next meeting.
He also claimed that there were discussion of electronic voting machines for general election, therefore, we should not make any decision in haste.
