ISLAMABAD:The National Assembly was informed on Friday that a plan of action has been has been prepared in coordination with the stakeholders to save our agriculture sector from the invasion of locusts.
Responding to a calling attention notice, Minister for National Food Security Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar told the House that this plan will be executed in the next one and a half years at a cost of R7.30 billion. He said five billion rupees will be provided by the federal government.
The Minister said that aerial sprays have been carried out in Sindh and South Punjab to save the crops from the attack of locusts. He said as a result of emergency measures, Kharif crop has been saved from these swarms.
Responding to another calling attention notice, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan told the house that the government has enhanced the revenue of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to Rs146-billion whilst reducing its deficit from R29-billion in 2018 to Rs11- billion in 2019. He said efforts are afoot to bring improvement in the national flag carrier.
Five bills were introduced also in the House on Friday. These included: “The Anti-Terrorism Amendment bill 2020, The Post Office Cash Certificate (Amendment) Bill, 2020, The Post Office National Savings Certificate (Amendment) Bill, 2020, The government savings Bank (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The House will now meet again on Monday at 4:00 pm.