ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed the Climate Change Ministry to probe a reported brawl between Advisor to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam and Minister for State Zartaj Gul, while attending a UN conference on climate change.

A meeting of the PAC was held here Thursday, which examined the audit report of Ministry of Climate Change for the year 2019-20 under the chairmanship of Rana Tanveer Hussain. Riaz Fatyana disclosed that the UN conference on climate change was held in Glasgow.

During the conference, Minister for State Zartaj Gul had a brawl with the advisor and she returned to Pakistan in the middle of the event. He further said the representation of Pakistan in the conference was not up to the mark due to incompetence of the officials of the ministry.

No Pakistani official received the delegates from Nepal and other countries in the camp, he added. At the commencement of the meeting, PAC Chairman Hussain directed the audit authorities to address the low-cost audit objections of the ministry at Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) level.

The committee examined the highlighted audit paras in order of highest amount involved therein and paras recommended for settlement by the DAC. The meeting reviewed the audit objections of the Ministry of Climate Change.

Ministry of Climate Change Secretary Sikandar Baloch said that he had recently taken charge of the ministry, adding that he will conduct regular DACs. The chairman committee said that there was no problem in dealing with the audit objections, which were agreed upon by the DAC consisting of the ministry and the audit authorities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021