Islamabad:
On Wednesday, the permanent committee of the National Assembly on industries and production expressed its dissatisfaction with an executive engineer (Xen) of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) (Xen) offering a briefing on behalf of the ministry, questioning the absence of the Secretary of the Ministry and other officials concerned.
The panel of the lower house, chaired by Syed Hafeezdin, has comforted to examine the development budget proposed for the next financial year.
The Chairman of the Committee stressed that the Ministry of Industries and Production had a budget of 4.91 billion PKR in the previous year, but used only 22.09 million rupees of its development funds.
During the session, PSM Xen launched a briefing on behalf of the ministry, which aroused indignation among the members of the committee.
Expressing his dissatisfaction, the member of the Abdul Hakeem Baloch committee asked how a Xen could represent the ministry in such a critical discussion. He agreed on the absence of the secretary of the ministry and other officials concerned.
“Your role seems limited to dismissing employees rather than solving basic problems,” said Baloch.
The chairman of the committee assured members that the PSM issue would also be discussed at the meeting.
Responding to concerns about the fate of public service stores, the Federal Minister of Industries and Production, Rana Tanveer, rejected the impression that the entity was closed. “Who says we are closing public service stores?” He asked. However, he acknowledged that stores underwent billions of losses.
Tanveer assured the committee that measures would be taken to guarantee the future of public service stores, adding that even permanent employees were not considered as government staff. He also revealed operating plans for public service stores as part of a public-private partnership model.
“We have already decided that no new daily salary work will be hired in public service stores,” he added.
The Minister also established a parallel between the financial difficulties of public service stores and the fall of the PSM, formerly the largest steel factory in Asia. “Small stores have been opened in spaces to a room in various cities, which is not a lasting model,” he noted.
The Chairman of the Committee announced that the two representatives of public services and the PPP would be called upon new discussions.
