Friday, 14 January, 2022 I 10 Jamadi-al-sani, 1443 I rs 15.00 I Vol XII no 197 I 12 pages I Islamabad edition
Govt proves its muscle as key bills passed in na g
House rejects opposition's amendments
ISLAMABAD staff report
F
ederal government thursday got the Finance (supplementary) Bill 2021, also called as ‘mini-budget’ by the opposition parties, sail through the national assembly on thursday despite opposition’s ruckus. the House also passed the state Bank of pakistan (amendment) Bill 2021. Both bills were tabled in the national assembly on december 30. The AMendMenTs: the government’s amendments to the proposed bill were approved by the na. in addition, amendments to the finance bill were also moved by mQm mna Kishwar Zahra, to which the finance minister replied that most of the demands had been accommodated. in response, the mQm mna thanked the premier and the foreign minister and withdrew the amendments. the government introduced changes to clause 3 of the bill, under which small shops will not be taxed on bread, chapattis, sheermal, naans, vermicelli, buns and rusk. tier one retailers, restaurants,
food chains and sweet shops will be taxed on the sale of these items. Finance minister shaukat tarin addresses the national assembly. a sales tax of 8.5 per cent will be imposed on 1,800 cc domestic and hybrid and domestic cars. a tax of 12.75pc will be imposed on 1,801 to 2,500 cc hybrid vehicles while imported electric vehicles will be taxed at 12.5pc. no general sales tax will be imposed on a 200g carton of milk, while a 17pc Gst will be imposed on formula milk worth more than rs500. tax on imported vehicles was also increased under the changes, from five per cent to 12.5pc. the federal excise duty on all imported vehicles will remain the same. there will be a duty of 2.5pc on locally manufactured 1,300 cc vehicles, down from the 5pc proposed earlier. the duty on locally manufactured 1,300 to 2,000 cc cars was also reduced to 5pc from 10pc. a 10pc duty will be imposed on locally manufactured cars greater than 2,100 cc. the government’s amendments to clause 5 and clause 6 were also approved during the session.
coronavirus in
pakistan
CONFIRMED CASES:
1,312,267
LAST UPDATED AT 8:45 AM ON JANUARY 13, 2022
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
NEW CASES:
5
3,019
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
1,260,045 28,992 SINDH:
PUNJAB:
491,743
449,843
KPK:
BALOCHISTAN:
181,906
33,675
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
34,719/10,437
109,944
OppOsITIOn lOsT In nuMber’s gAMe: the opposition’s amendments to the bill were rejected and when the voting took place, 150 members voted in favour of the opposition’s amendments, while 168 voted against them. By this measure, the government proved an edge over the opposition benches with majority of 18 parliamentarians to get the bill passed. the national assembly comprises 342 lawmakers, of which the government has 182 mnas, while the opposition has 160 mnas. While 14 of the government’s lawmakers were absent from the session, while 10 from the opposition’s side didn’t show up. the passage of both the bills would help the government ensure its sixth review of the $6 billion extended Fund Facility (eFF) cleared by the international monetary Fund (imF) executive board, paving the way for the disbursement of about $1 billion tranche. last month, Finance minister shaukat tarin introduced two bills in parliament to give effect to the rs375 billion mini-budget and grant autonomy to the central bank. earlier, the lower house of parliament resumed its session thursday afternoon with speaker asad Qaisar in the chair. prior to the commencement of the crucial na session, prime minister imran Khan arrived at parliament and chaired a meeting of the parliamentary groups of parties included in the ruling alliance led by the pti to supercharge the efforts to counter the opposition’s resistance and steer the bill into law. at the beginning of the session, pm imran Khan was greeted by the opposition benches with loud sloganeering as treasury lawmakers resorted to desk thumping. at the outset, ppp’s shazia marri moved a motion recommending that the finance bill be circulated for public opinion under rule 124 of procedure and conduct of Business in the national assembly so that it could be demonstrated how “anti-people” it was.
CCI approves conduct of 7th population census ISLAMABAD tLtp
the council of common interests (cci) has approved the conduct of the 7th population and Housing census and the establishment of the census monitoring committee. the approval was granted at the 49th cci meeting, held here on thursday with prime minister imran Khan in the chair. Welcoming the chief ministers, the prime minister emphasised that the government wants to have credible census data that can be used for initiating policies and projects for the welfare of citizens. He stated that frequency of cci meetings can be increased as per demands of the provinces. He congratulated cci members on the establishment of cci’s permanent secretariat and said that it manifests a collaborative spirit between the federal and provincial governments. the prime minister emphasised that the federal government is fully committed to resolve national issues in consultation with all federating units and stakeholders. the meeting approved the con-
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Murree calamity: Initial investigation reveals administrative flaws the initial probe of the five-member committee to identify the causes that led to the calamity in murree revealed the failure of relevant government authorities to take adequate measures, despite the warnings issued by the pmd. it is pertinent to note that the pmd issued an advisory on january 6, deeming the weather unsafe with clear forewarnings about an imminent snowstorm, directing the concerned departments to block the roads leading to the tourist spot, the site of the tragic incident that claimed 22 lives on january 9. “all authorities concerned are particularly advised to remain ‘alert’ during the forecast period,” the met office had stated. sources privy to the preliminary findings of the inquiry committee said that the report has also identified a range of other causes that resulted in the tragic incident, including the failure to formulate a joint plan of action to prevent a crisis following the warnings by the met office. the advisory had called for precautionary measures and asked the authorities to brace up for heavy snowfall. the committee found that the authorities did not stop the entry of vehicles into murree after the town reached its parking capacity. the contingency plan was not prepared to deal with a crisis situation, and preventive measures such as putting the vehicle-lifters on alert and deploying the traffic police were not taken. the committee further discovered that the relevant departments, including district administration and disaster management authorities, did not coordinate to formulate a joint plan of action to prevent a crisis following the severe weather warnings issued by the met office.the probe also
duct of the 7th population and Housing census and approved the establishment of a “census monitoring committee”. the committee would be chaired by the planning commission’s deputy chairman, all provincial chief secretaries, national database and registration authority (nadra)’s chairman, islamabad chief commissioner and other senior officials. the committee will oversee and monitor census activities to ensure expeditious, transparent and credible census operations. as per recommendations of the census advisory committee, the cci decided to conduct the census by using international best practices, digital technology and Gis monitoring system. it was apprised that the housing census would be conducted before the population census. the meeting also approved the annual report of cci for the fiscal year 2020-21, besides deciding that additional water requirements for Karachi would be discussed by the committee formed to reconcile views of the provinces at the political and technical levels and issues related to water.
more inside
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uncovered that the measures were not taken to regulate the influx of tourists and traffic inflow into the resort town of murree. “By 6 pm on january 7, more than 30,000 vehicles had entered murree and the roads were blocked due to heavy snowfall but the administration did not close the routes,” the report pointed out. Further, the findings of the report highlight that the delayed call to the army for rescue operations, coupled with delayed coordination on emergency, further deteriorated the incident, leading to preventable causalities. the parking capacity of the vehicles was exceeded by more than 120%, the report disclosed. it is pertinent to note that each year, during the snowfall season, eight to nine snowfall camps are set up for the placement of heavy machinery and additional personnel are deployed in different areas before the entry of tourist vehicles. However, no such measure had been taken this year. News Desk
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