Daily Times

The Federal Government had transferred compensation amount to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for onward payment to the heirs of 1717 people, died in the recent floods, the National Assembly was informed on Monday. Speaking on the floor of the Lower House, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi said the Federal Government had announced Rs 1 million compensation amount, following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directions in this regard. However, the amount would be disbursed among those who met the criteria, set for the payment. “The Federal Government would not delay the payment to the affected families” he added. The Minister said that for the first time, the government had made the payment within fifteen days to the affected families. Javed Abbasi said that a joint survey would be conducted to estimate the damage of the houses in the flood-hit area for the payment. He said that the federal government had provided all the required assistance to provinces to deal with emergency-like situations. Meanwhile, the National Assembly on Monday referred a government bill to the standing committee on energy for deliberations which was related to oil and gas sector. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbassi introduced the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which was referred to the relevant committee. Chairman Standing Committee on Energy (Petroleum Division) Aamir Talal Gopang presented the report of the Standing Committee on the Petroleum (Amendment) Bill, 2022. A calling attention notice regarding illegal shops and carts in the commercial centers of Islamabad was also referred to the standing committee on Interior. State Minister of Interior Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju said that this notice should be referred to the committee so that detailed discussions could be made on it. Following the request of minister and consent of the mover Asiya Azeem (PTI), the notice was forwarded to the committee.