Ministry given one month to put Zakat system on track

18 Mar, 2007

The Senate Standing Committee on Government Assurances has given a month's time to the Safron Ministry (Minister for States & Frontier Regions) to constitute provincial and district Zakat Committees and put the work of distribution of Zakat on track.
The Senate Standing Committee met on Saturday with Senator Anwar Bhinder in the chair, and looked into the inordinate delay that occurred in the constitution of provincial and district zakat councils depriving the people of the area from Zakat funds.
The job should be completed and bottlenecks in the distribution of the fund should be removed, said Chairman. Senator Anwar Bhinder, a former deputy Speaker of the West Pakistan Assembly. Another proceeding of the Committee related to an assurance given by the Minister for States & Frontier Regions in response to supplementary Question replied on October 7, 2003.
The assurance was given in reply to a question asked by Senator Tahir Iqbal about fee charged after regular office hours and on holidays by Government hospitals in FATA. The SAFRON Secretary has now informed the Committee that the case was in the knowledge of the NWFP Governor, and a notification in this regard would be issued within a week.
While discussing the purchase and installation of MRI machine at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the Committee regretted that even after nine months this essential facility was still not available to patients.
However, the PIMS executive Director said that the equipment has arrived in Karachi and would be installed in April. In addition, the Government Assurance Committee also directed the health ministry to ensure soft opening of Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Balochistan by April 30.

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