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| April 28, 2006 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1427 |
Drought-hit farmers to get relief, says Omar
ISLAMABAD, April 27: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Thursday discussed the Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2005, Banking Companies (amendment) Bill 2005 and recovery of agricultural loans from the farmers of drought- affected areas of southern Punjab.
Ch Anwar Ali Cheema MNA chaired the meeting that was also attended by Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Omar Ayub Khan, MNAs Malik Saifullah Khan Tiwana, Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dreshak, Riffat Amjad, Sardar Tufail Ahmad Khan, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Syed Naveed Qamar, Ghulam Murtaza Satti, Khalid Iqbal Memon and Liaqat Baloch.
The members first discussed the calling attention notices moved by Rashed Akbar Khan and other MNAs. The committee was of the view that agriculture in most areas of the country had been affected due to calamities of different nature, therefore, it was imperative to give relief to the farming community in order to mitigate the sufferings of the farmers, the participants noted.
The committee directed the finance ministry and its subsidiary ZTBL to calculate the total financial impact caused as a result of these calamities so that the government could take measures for providing relief to the farmers in the form of incentives and rescheduling/writing off of loans within two weeks. They also decided that the issue would also be discussed in the next meeting.
Replying to the observations of the committee, the state minister said that the government was well aware of the problems of the farming community and was ready to offer relief to them.
However, he said, the government had to take into consideration the financial constraints before taking any decision in this regard.
The minister assured that recommendations of the committee would be incorporated in the next financial budget.
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