The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government Wednesday assured potato farmers to resolve the issue of prices of their produce by consulting all stakeholders. The members of the opposition parties urged the government to buy the farmers produce through PASSCO; so that prices of the vegetable can be stabilised in the open market.
Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan assured the opposition members that the government was ready to address the issue of potato farmers in consultation with all stakeholders as it wanted to facilitate them.
The minister said that numerous countries including China and Belarus had shown their interest in purchasing Pakistani potato. Pakistan produces 4.4 million tonnes of potato per annum. About 3.2 million tonnes of potato is consumed in the country while 600,000 to 700,000 tonnes of potato is exported.
China had shown interest in purchasing 50,000 tonnes of Pakistani potato and Belarus wanted to buy 35,000 tonnes of potato, he informed the House.
Minister for Aviation Division Muhammad Mian Soomro informed the House that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was in process of finalising its strategic business plan to further improve its performance.
He said the plan would be submitted to the government in March/April 2019 that would help improve the performance of national carrier.
The minister informed the House that several profitable new routes like Sialkot-Sharjah, Lahore-Muscat, Islamabad-Doha and Lahore-Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur had been added, adding that more new routes (Sialkot-Paris-Barcelona, Peshawar-Sharjah, Peshawar-Al Ain, Multan-Sharjah and Jeddah and Medina) will commence from January and February 2019.
He said that 20-year-old and highly expensive software system had been replaced with a new one which was very cost-effective, economical and efficient. The government had terminated about 200 ghost employees, he added.
The minister said as a result of verification, 700 degrees of employees were found fake and out of which, 402 employees were terminated, adding that 35 cases were under process for disciplinary proceedings whereas 263 employees approached the court of law and sought stay orders.
Federal Minister for Communication and Postal Services, Murad Saeed informed the House that the cabinet had approved more postings of community welfare attaches in Saudi Arabia to resolve problems of overseas Pakistanis.
He said the people working abroad could approach Pakistani Embassy in Saudi Arabia round the clock to get their problems resolved. He said people who went abroad were neither getting salaries nor enjoying working conditions as agreed by their employers before their departure from Pakistan.