The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Postal Services Friday decided to approach Prime Minister Imran Khan for the retrieval of Pakistan Post's land allegedly grabbed by the land mafia in different parts of the country.

In this backdrop, the committee also sought from Pakistan Post a detailed record of its properties located across the country including the land encroached by the land grabbers.

The committee met in the chair of Imtiaz Chaudhry from the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

"There are reports that Pakistan Post's land has been illegally occupied by certain elements in different parts of the country. This is a very disturbing development. This land is the property of the state that must be retrieved at any cost come what may," the committee's chairman said.

The committee also sought from the Pakistan Post the details of all its properties being used for commercial purposes and recommended the formulation of a comprehensive policy for the utilisation of the commercial properties.

Briefing the committee on steps taken by the federal government for the digitisation of Pakistan Post, Director General Pakistan Post Akhlaque Rana said a system is being updated using the latest technology including mobile applications to facilitate the pensioners and other customers.

The committee members said digitisation in Pakistan Post is the need of the hour since private courier services are using latest technology to ensure speedy delivery of letters, parcels, related consignments and goods to the customers. The committee also recommended to replace outdated practices at Pakistan Post carried out manually with speedy online services.

The NA committee considered Pakistan Postal Services Management Board (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and deferred it till next meeting due to absence of mover of the bill.

Meanwhile, a day earlier on Thursday, a meeting of Senate's Standing Committee on Postal Services saw high drama after the Senate's Media Directorate made public, through a press release, the details of the committee meeting that was supposed to be 'in camera.'

In an apparently strange turn of events, shortly before the meeting began, the journalists who had reached the Parliament House to cover the Senate committee's proceedings, were informed by the Senate staff that the meeting would be in camera or confidential, implying that media coverage of the meeting would not be allowed keeping in view that it was an in camera session despite that the meeting's agenda had already been publicly issued.

Interestingly, a press release issued by Senate's Media Directorate after the committee's meeting went on to read, "The Senate Standing Committee on Postal Services convened an in camera meeting on Thursday, to determine the committee's further course of action in conjunction with members. In addition to this the committee deliberated over work carried out by the committee since 2018 and current activities of the standing committee."

A source in the Senate Secretariat termed it a 'blunder' on part of the Senate's media officials. "An in camera meeting means that the proceedings of the meeting are supposed to be off the record and to be kept secret from public and press. How, in the first place, details can be issued of something that was in camera? This is a huge blunder of Senate's Media Directorate," the source told Business Recorder.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019