ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Wednesday approved 35 demands for grants worth Rs 765.2 billion for the next financial year relating to cabinet, establishment, aviation and capital administration, finance, revenue and economic affairs divisions and their associated departments. The treasury benches rejected all the cut motions moved by opposition members against these demands while cut motions moved for some demands of grants were withdrawn by the opposition members themselves. The finance minister could not present all the demands of grants due to pointing out of quorum by an opposition member, resulting in adjournment of the NA session till Thursday morning. The government after rejecting all the cut motions approved Rs 263,000,000 demands of grants for Cabinet; Rs 6,343,000,000 for Cabinet Division, and also approved Rs 276,000,000 for emergency relief and repatriation for which the opposition had withdrawn all the cut motions. The House approved Rs 6,207,000,000 for other expenditure of the Cabinet Division; Rs 97,000,000 for Aviation Division; Rs 21,294,000,000 for Capital Administration and Development Division; Rs 2,734,000,000 for Establishment Division; Rs 636,000,000 for Federal Public Service Commission; Rs 2,138,000,000 for other expenditure of Establishment Division; Rs 986,000,000 for Prime Minister’s Office; Rs 272,000,000 for Board of Investment; Rs 70,000,000 for Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission; Rs 9,412,000,000, for Atomic Energy; Rs 14,741,438,000 for Development Expenditure of Cabinet Division and Rs 614,000,000 for Climate Change. After withdrawal of cut motions, the House approved Rs 432,000,000 for Textile Division; Rs 7,663,000,000 for Communications Division; Rs 14,480,848,000 for development expenditure of Communications Division and Rs 1,687,000,000 for Defence Division. The National Assembly approved Rs 245,000,000 for Power Division; Rs 377,000,000 for Petroleum Division; Rs 98,000,000 for other expenditures of Petroleum Division; Rs 1,809,000,000 for Finance Division; Rs 5,887,000,000 for Controller General of Accounts and Rs 563,190,000,000 for subsidies and miscellaneous expenditures. In addition, Rs 65,000,000,000 have been approved for Higher Education Commission; Rs 5,296,000,000 for Economic Affairs Division; Rs 378,000,000 for Revenue Division; Rs 4,419,000,000 for Federal Board of Revenue; Rs 8,088,000,000 for Customs; Rs 120,138,000 for development expenditure of Economic Affairs Division; Rs 1,523,999,000 for Foreign Affairs Division and Rs 14,457,000,000 for Foreign Affairs; Rs 160,000,000 for Housing and Works Division;Rs 3,800,259,000 for Civil Works; Rs 160,000,000 for Housing and Works Division and Rs 3800,259,000 for civil works. Winding up discussion on the demands of grants and cut motions, Finance Minister Dr Miftah Ismail said the government had taken many initiatives that helped enhance exports from the country and reduce imports. He said due to the government efforts, Pakistan was becoming eighth fastest export growing country, adding that exports of the country witnessed 24 percent increase in March 2018 and 18 percent in April 2018 while the imports reduced by 2 percent. He said the exports from the country were likely to grow by 20 percent in the next two months as a result of prudent economic policies of the government. He said the incumbent government completed many projects which the previous governments failed to do, adding that the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project was initiated during Musharraf government and was left for Pakistan People’s Party government, which also could not complete it and was ultimately completed by the incumbent government. Similarly, he pointed out that the Lowari Tunnel project was initiated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and no government could complete it. The credit of its completion also goes to the current government, he added. The minister said the government has provided about Rs 110 billion tax rebate to the salaried and low-income segments of the country, while strategy has been made to increase the number of tax filers. Responding to various points raised by opposition benches, Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir said Pakistan had recalibrated its foreign policy framework to further strengthen its relations with the regional countries. He was of the view that it was Pakistan’s biggest achievement that economic relations with its time tested friend China had deepened as a result of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. He said Pakistan’s relations with the Central Asian States had further improved and projects like CASA-1000 and TAPI would connect Pakistan with these countries. Dastgir said Pakistan was consistently engaged with Afghanistan to overcome misunderstandings and improve the bilateral relations, adding that both the countries had launched an action plan for peace and solidarity in the region. About Kashmir dispute, the foreign minister said Pakistan had strongly advocated the long standing dispute at all international forums. He said permanent membership of SCO was also a big achievement of Pakistan, adding the country’s relations with Russia also improved as both the countries signed the first defense pact and also held joint military exercises. On this occasion, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed said the incumbent government had taken many measures to overcome load shedding, root out terrorism and stabilize economy. He said the industry of the country was completely shut due to energy crisis, however the PML-N government added thousands of megawatts of electricity to the national transmission system and overcame the power crisis. He said the CNG was also available round the clock, which had closed due to gas shortages. He rejected claims of the opposition members, saying that condition of the educational institutions had improved while quota was being strictly followed in the public service commission examinations and appointments. Earlier, speaking on the cut motions, MQM leader Sheikh Salahud Din said the government should take measures to introduce uniform educational system in the country, as 95 percent of the poor people were facing problems in educating their children. On another cut motion, MQM legislator Abdul Waseem said energy crisis was worsening. Nikhat Shakeel and SA Iqbal Qadri also spoke on the cut motions and questioned government’s performance on many fronts. Published in Daily Times, May 17th 2018.