LAHORE: A PPP provincial minister caused concern among many in the house on Tuesday with his ‘candid’ answers to some serious queries put up by his colleagues and also by showing a lack of knowledge regarding his important department of revenue.
“As no member asked for it, we did not send any reminder to the federal government for exempting flood-hit farmers from payment of farm loans,” said Revenue Minister Haji Muhammad Ishaq in a non-serious tone to a supplementary query regarding his department during the Question Hour.
Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal wondered why the minister was taking lightly the issue concerning the whole province and not a single MPA.
The chair had to call attention of the minister who was more interested in overhearing what opposition leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin was saying to his colleague on opposition benches, Mohsin Leghari.
Answering another query, Haji Ishaq termed volunteers of Civil Defence government employees.
When the mover, Nighat Nasir Sheikh, challenged his assertions, he said as they (the volunteers) had been recruited by the government so they were government employees.
Ms Sheikh again challenged him by pointing out that ‘volunteers’ were not recruited rather they volunteer their services.
Mr Ishaq could also not satisfy the house on a query about the NRO beneficiaries in his department as the chair pended the question with the direction that the minister should collect the required details and come well prepared when his department was again taken up in the Question Hour.
MPA Mian Naseer belied Haji Ishaq’s reply to his written question that no revenue officer or official was a beneficiary of the NRO, however, some officials got relief from courts after a proper hearing in high court and Supreme Court.
The MPA claimed that NAB website carried a list of nine revenue men who benefited from the now defunct law.
Mr Leghari suggested the speaker should send the matter to the standing committee for a detailed discussion.
To another query, the minister admitted rampant corruption in the department, saying there were only a few honest people in it.
“Each and every individual is aware of the prevailing corruption (in revenue department) as honest officials can be counted on fingers,” the minister told the questioner, MPA Khalid Saleem Bhatti.
He did not see any need for suspending officials during the process of inquiry.
To a supplementary question, Haji Ishaq said the army had sufficient land for the welfare of officers and jawans and there was no need for the Punjab government to provide it more land.
He said the department had cancelled allotment of 6,700 kanals of farmland in the province to 47 government officers.
As he had earlier stated the army had discretionary powers in the allotment process, a legislator wondered how the department then got the powers to cancel the allotment. The minister said the army allotted this land to the government officials for facilitating implementation of Army Welfare Scheme during Musharraf regime. He said the land would remain with the army and would be allotted in accordance with the welfare scheme.
To another question, the minister revealed the government land was allotted to three army officers, including army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, in Kasur district during the last five years.
He told a questioner the government had stopped entertaining applications for allotment under the Land for Landless Tenants scheme in 2004. He, however, said the government was carrying out open auction of the available land.
To highlight fairness in the auction, he said the process was being undertaken in mosques. Mian Naseer, however, said when corruption could not be checked in Zakaat committees that were formed and functioned in mosques, how one could expect the land auction process to be fair only because it was being held in mosques.
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