As many as 10 standing committees of both National Assembly and Senate will be abolished with the transfer of five ministries to provinces under devolution process next month, bringing a sigh of relief to the exchequer in terms of heavy spending by the parliamentary panels, it is learnt.
Five federal ministries are going to be shifted to provinces by end of November that include Population Welfare, Youth Affairs, Local Bodies and Rural Development, Zakat and Ushr and Special Initiatives under the 18th Amendment as decided in the previous meeting of the Implementation Commission on 18th Amendment.
Parliamentary sources said the standing committees of both Senate and National Assembly will also be abolished with the transfer of these five ministries, giving a sigh of relief to the national exchequer as millions of rupees are being paid to their chairmen and members of these committees monthly and allowances for each meeting.
A chairman of a standing committee draws Rs 59,000 salary per month besides other perks and privileges such as one government vehicle, up to 350 liters fuel and Rs 5,000 mobile allowance per month and up to Rs 35,000 TA/DA (Travel Allowance and Daily Allowance) during the meeting days. The is pertinent to mention that each member of the committee is being paid Rs 3,800 per meeting as TA/DA while the allowance starts two days prior to scheduled meeting, tripling it from Rs 38,00 to Rs 11,400.
Besides, the chairman and a member of the standing committees are also entitled to a business class air ticket for attending a meeting which becomes Rs 42,000 from Karachi to Islamabad and vice versa. A chairman of a standing committee gets an accumulated amount around Rs 123,500 per month including his allowances from the national exchequer which becomes Rs 1,235,000 in respect of ten chairmen.
This amount is other than business class tickets being given to them chairmen for attending a meeting which is Rs 420,000 (Karachi to Islamabad). Similarly, sources said that the vehicles given to chairmen of the standing committees that are going to be abolished will also be taken back.