ISLAMABAD: With less than two months remaining for his term to expire, outgoing Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani has now directed the Senate staff to provide the related periodic reports, documents and other publications to all concerned in 'soft form' as part of the austerity measures to be practiced at the Upper House of the Parliament.
The Chairman Senate issued these directives at a meeting on Thursday wherein he said that being provided with the related material in soft form would "help the senators to a great extent in reading and reviewing the issues and this needs to be adopted as regular feature."
According to details, the outgoing Chairman Senate, presiding over a high-level meeting at the Senate Secretariat, directed the Senate staff to take "austerity focused and environment friendly measures with a view to contribute towards growth and prosperity of the people."
The Chairman Senate was given a detailed briefing by the Secretary Senate Mohammad Qasim Samad Khan on the proposed initiatives aimed at contributing towards the national exchequer and environment.
The proposal about searching out an alternative to printed periodic reports and other publications was discussed in detail during the meeting.
Sanjrani said the initiative will not only help reduce the expenditures but also contribute towards the environment as globally such practices are encouraged for environmental safety.
"Globally parliaments are heavily reliant on technologies and we also need to take benefit from the existing resources to lower the expenditures and introduce environment friendly initiatives for public good," he said.
It bears a mention here that 52 senators would be retiring from the Upper House of Parliament after the completion of their six-year term on the coming March 11. Although, Sanjrani is not among the retiring senators, his tenure as Chairman Senate would come to an end on March 11 and the House would elect 52 new senators including Chairman and Deputy Chairman when the Senate elections take place. Sanjrani was elected as a senator in March 2018 on General seat from Balochistan, as an independent candidate. He is scheduled to retire in 2024.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021