Construction of new Gwadar Airport: Centre releases Rs 90 million to CAA, Senate told

The federal government has released Rs 90 million to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for the construction of new Gwadar International Airport under public sector development programme (PSDP). In a written reply to the House on Wednesday, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said that an amount Rs 50 million was released during 2008-09 and Rs 40 million in 2009-10.
Giving year-wise utilisation of the allocated amount of Rs 90 million during 2008-09 and 2009-10, he said that Rs 5 million was utilised for topographic survey, Rs 2.500 million for soil investigation, Rs 50 million for design consultancy, Rs 1.300 million for purchase of vehicles, Rs 1.275 million for salary of staff, 0.829 million for press advertisement and Rs 29.096 for civil works during the said period. Meanwhile, the minister also told the House that a total of 174 employees had been reinstated by PIA under Sacked Employees Reinstatement Ordinance-2009 (SERO-2009).
He said that out of 174 reinstated employees, a total of 36 employees were entitled to receive financial benefits, which implies total financial impact of about Rs 420 million. He clarified that so far no employee had been reinstated in PIA under Sacked Employees Reinstatement Act 2010 (SERA-2010). To a question, he said that facility of non-accompanied personal effects (cargo facility) was being provided to all airports, including Peshawar Airport, which was part and parcel of cargo operations.
State Minister for Interior Tasleem Qureshi informed the House that as many as three million illegal immigrants are residing in Pakistan other than Afghans refugees while only few Afghan nationals were repatriated on the report of security agencies after cancellation of their registration.
He said that the figures had been provided by the National Alien Registration Authority (NARA) adding that the number of African national is 50,000 out of which 30,000 to 35,000 are living in Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi along with nearby villages of the twin cities while the rest are living in other cities. To a question Qureshi said that in accordance with the provision of Foreigners Act, 1946 the foreigners illegally residing in Pakistan in contravention of the said law are apprehended by the local police as well as Federal Investigating Agency (FIA).
In 2008, he said FIA had registered four cases against Africans illegally residing in the country and in 2009 two cases were registered, while since 2010 only one case was registered, he added. Meanwhile Qureshi informed the House no amount was paid to the UN Commission for the investigation into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, however, he added that the government did bear the boarding and lodging besides ticket expenses of the visiting members of the commission.
To another question, he said that a total of 11789 cases of violence against women were registered in the country since January 2009. Giving details, he said that 1656 cases were registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while 8433 in Punjab, 680 in Sindh, 333 in Balochistan, 272 in Islamabad, 362 in AJK and 62 cases were registered in Gilgit-Baltistan during the said period.
He said that nine women police stations have been established at Karachi, Larkana, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Abbotabad, Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad where female police officers are dealing with the women cases. Besides, he added that Ladies Complaints Units (LCUs) have also been established in ICT Islamabad at Margalla and I-9 Police Station which are functioning.
Minister for Narcotics Control Arbab Muhammad Zahir told the House that over 640 drugs and narcotics peddlers were arrested last year. Of these, he added that 193 were convicted by the courts while trial of the remaining 382 persons is underway.