The National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence Wednesday authorised Secretary Ministry of Commerce to examine the progress on the public hearing pertaining to Carriage by Air Bill, 2010 and submit its report in the next meeting on January 12, 2011.
The committee met with Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho in the chair here at the Parliament House, which besides members of the panel was also attended by various stakeholders including exporters to discuss the Bill. The committee held thorough discussion on the Bill along with concerns of the exporters and decided to have more debate taking all the stakeholders on board prior to its approval from the committee.
The committee was informed that 95 percent of the country's export was doing through sea, while the remaining five percent by air, which is mainly through the forwarding agents. The committee also suggested that the forwarding agents should be brought under legal cover, upon which officials of the Ministry of Commerce told that the ministry already working on it.
However, the meeting of the committee adjourned till January 12, 2011 and authorised the Secretary Commerce to hold detailed discussions with all stakeholders and submit a report to the committee.
Admitted by National Assembly on June 28, 2010, the Carriage by Air Bill, 2010 is introduced to give effect in Pakistan to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, 1999, and to consolidate the laws and applicable conventions in relation to international carriage by air as well as the law applicable to domestic carriage by air.
In December 2006, Pakistan ratified the Montreal Convention for Unification of certain rules for International Carriage by Air, 1999. The applicable provisions of the Carriage by Air Conventions shall have the force of law in Pakistan in relation to any carriage by air to which they apply, irrespective of nationality of the aircraft performing that carriage.
A committee member, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur pointed out that in Defence Housing Authority, Karachi, the residents were being deprived of water in their lines. He said that the concerned officials were visibly supplying/selling water through Bouzers to commercial concerns like hotels and Shadi halls, terming the act, as complete violation of Cantonment Board's responsibility of catering to the needs of the residents. However, the officials concerned told the committee that the Cantt Board was not selling water to bouzers to commercial concerns rather it was providing free of cost water through bouzers to areas of DHA, Katchi Abadi, which are not connected through water lines and are facing hardship due to non-availability of water.
The committee was told that in order to provide water to the residents, Cantt Board Clifton receives water from Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB). It was further informed that against the requirement of 14 million gallons per day, KWSB was only providing water in the range of six to seven million gallons per day. The committee was informed that the Clifton Cantt Board has made several requests to the KWSB to supply minimum agreed level of nine million gallons per day, but in vain.