ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that a series of steps had been taken by the government to establish new industries, promote indigenous concept, and enhance employment opportunities in the country.
During question hour, Minister for Industries and Production Murtaza Mahmud told the house that under Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy, 30 mobile manufacturers had been issued licenses to start local manufacturing of mobile devices by setting up local facilities.
He said Green Field Technology was another initiative for both import substitution and export enhancement. Under that scheme, he added, different incentives in terms of taxes and duties were given to the companies by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) which brought new technologies.
He said the Engineering Development Board was in process of formulating a number of policies to promote local production and export which included the Solar Panel Manufacturing Policy and Agricultural Implements Manufacturing Policy.
Minister for National Food Security Tariq Bashir Cheema informed the house that wheat seeds would be provided to the district administrations of Sindh and Balochistan between the 1st and 15th of next month for their onward distribution to the farmers ravaged by the floods.
He said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had been requested to procure the best available seeds. He said a tender for the seeds procurement would be opened on the 26th of that month.
Cheema said Rs9 billion had been re-appropriated from a PSDP and a World Bank programme for procurement of wheat and oil seeds. He said that maximum efforts were being made for the rehabilitation of flood-affected people.
Alluding to the water receding in Sindh province, he added, sufficient land would be available in the province for the cultivation of wheat. He said oil seeds would be cultivated where the land could not be prepared for wheat cultivation.
He said there was no wheat crisis in the country as sufficient wheat had been imported. He said seeds would also be provided to the flood-affected farmers in sufficient quantity.
Responding to a calling attention notice, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said a national adaptation plan was being prepared for building resilience to climate change. She said Sindh province had also given its climate change policy and other provinces should follow the suit.
She said Pakistan was seeking climate justice from the world community to cope with the challenge posed by recent devastating floods.
Minister for Poverty Alleviation Shazia Marri said the government was heading in the right direction to address the woes of flood-affected people.
She said it was a national catastrophe and there should be no politics on the matter of relief and rehabilitation of the flood-affected population.
She said the PM had directed the Power Minister to visit the flood-affected areas of Sindh to address the electricity supply problems.
She said that a dynamic registry would be prepared to include more deserving families in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
She said out of Rs70 billion, Rs66.22 billion had been disbursed among the flood-affected families across the country.
Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Kiran Imran Dar said efforts were under way to recover the encroached land of Pakistan Railways.
She said 952.13 acres of land had been retrieved during different anti-encroachment operations in the last five years.
The house also passed a resolution, expressing the resolve to continue efforts for a better future for Pakistan by placing children at the centre of development and recognising their individuality.
The resolution moved by Mehnaz Akbar Aziz congratulated the formation of an all parties Parliamentary Caucus on Child Rights.
It recognised that the caucus was an invaluable forum that would help in advancing, protecting and uplifting the children of Pakistan besides eliminating all forms of violence and abuse against them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.