ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Aviation on Wednesday constituted an inquiry committee to probe alleged irregularities in the recently built New Islamabad Airport worth billions of rupees. During a meeting of the committee, which was chaired by Senator Mushahidullah, lawmakers pointed out poor material used in construction of various buildings and bridges inside the airport. Senator Sherry Rehman, Senator Faisal Javeed, Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak, Senator Samina Saeed, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bezenjo and official from PIA and Civil Aviation attended the meeting. When Committee Chairman Senator Mushahidullah asked why the PIA had not verified degrees of its employees, it was shared that verification of degrees of over 18,000 employees was not possible in a short period of time. A PIA official said that around 12,000 employees were having fake degrees. The official said that those possessing fake degrees would be fired from the organization. Senator Mushaidullah Khan said that action should also be taken against those officials who were responsible for recruiting officials having fake degrees. When Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak asked the reason behind the collapse of a bridge inside the airport building, Civil Aviation DG Hassan Baig said those responsible would be dealt with according to the law. He added that an inquiry had been ordered to indentify the flaws. Senator Sherry Rehman was of the opinion that the Federal Investigation Agency should conduct inquiries inside its offices and not at the airport. The committee also ordered officials concerned to open all passenger services, which had been closed due to unknown reasons, inside the airport. The committee said that there should be an online application of the PIA to facilitate people. The officials said that they were planning to establish an online app for ticketing purchasing. The chairman ordered the PIA officials to open its Blue area offices. Published in Daily Times, January 3rd 2019