The chairman Senate on Thursday directed the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) to undertake an audit of Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) and submit a report to the house within four months. The directives from chairman came after Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) drew the attention of the chair through a adjournment motion attention against the sorry state of affairs in ERRA.
The PML-N senator said that ERRA has miserably failed to complete the remonstration work in the October 7, 2005 devastating earthquake in Kashmir and parts of Hazara division despite all the resources and assistance by the international donors' agencies. He said that all the schools in Hazara division and parts of Kashmir were completely damaged, including some basic health units (BHUs), but the ERRA preferred to purchase expensive vehicle and other office equipment in the name of serving the quake victims.
He said that the damaged school buildings and BHUs are still in dilapidated conditions despite passage of ten years, forcing the people to die due to unavailability of basic health facilities while destroying the future of thousands of youth, as there are no schools for children.
He said that young boys and girls who become orphan drew the attention of the world, but the ERRA, which has become rogue elephant instead of serving those who needed help as majority of the kids lost their parents during the earthquake. Chairman Senate said that the AGP would conduct a detailed audit of ERRA, besides directing the Cabinet Committee of the House to present a report within three months about the state of affairs why it had failed to complete reconstruction work despite having all the resources.
The senators belonging to Pakistan People's Party (PPP) also staged a walkout from the house against what they called highhandedness of the federal government, which is reluctant to allow Sindh and Balochistan provincial governments who want to give Rs 1000 to the beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.
State Minister for Cabinet Secretariat Sheikh Aftab said that BISP headed by Marvi Memon has refused to carry out the responsibility, adding they had no such mechanism in place to disburse a huge amount through their system. This angered the PPP senator Taj Haider, who said that the government does not want to facilitate the poor as people who are the beneficiaries of BISP come from a poor background, adding the department comes with different lame excuses for the last so many months.
Chairman Senate said that the provinces concerned should requisite for Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting, saying 200-300 days have passed but none of the provinces, which are legally empowered for requisition the council's meeting, do not bother for adopting a constitutional way out to resolve the issue. Rabbani said that under the constitution, any province can submit a requisition for convening the CCI meeting, and there they can take up the issue. The house was adjourned to meet again at 10am.
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