Pakistan: Govt employees to get 1m houses on retirement

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday said the government would provide one million housing units to the retired government employees.

Replying to a question during question hour in the National Assembly he said the construction of these housing units would be undertaken very soon. “It is a part of our 100 days programme to provide one million housing units to the government employees when they retire from service,” he added. The prime minister said the provincial governments would also start implementing the programme.

Replying to another question on tourism, the prime minister said the 2005 earthquake badly affected the tourism industry in the country. The other reason, he added, was law and order situation, which deteriorated in the past in tourist potential areas.

He said tourism flourished if the law and order were under control. Prime Minister Gilani said under the tourism policy not only the facilities in tourist areas would be improved but the government would also ensure the restoration of law and order.

He said in areas like Swat, Kaghan and lake Saiful Malook, infrastructure and tourist facilities were badly damaged by the devastating 2005 earthquake.He expressed hope that once the infrastructure and facilities in these areas were fully restored, the flow of tourists would also improve significantly.

Meanwhile, Minister for Education Ahsan Iqbal said the government would constitute a National Curriculum Committee to review education syllabus to make it of international standard.

“We would introduce a revolution in education sector and make it competitive to that of developed as well as developing countries,” the minister said replying to a question during question hour session at National Assembly.

He said the council would complete the revision of the education syllabus within a year and would give its recommendation to introduce changes into it subject to implementation. The syllabus of madaris would also be amended but within some limitations as it might not contradict religious teachings and the ideological image of the country.

He stated that before the abolition of A, O level system, the government would strengthen its own education system, adding that every child of this country would be imparted education of equal standard.

Meanwhile, Minister for Industries and Production Syed Naveed Qamar said that the government would give more incentives to the farmers to make Pakistan self-sufficient in the production of edible oil by decreasing import of palm oil.

During question hour session, the minister said the major cause behind the price hike of edible oil was that the price of palm oil had increased two-fold in international market but the government was seriously pondering over the production of oil at local level.

Responding to a question he said the government would minimize the gap between the prices at Utility Stores and the market to reduce the pilferage cases.He said the government had not yet disbanded the Federal Food Committee, adding, “We have to go beyond the Federal Food Committee and steps should be taken to take the nation out of this crisis.”

Courtesy: The News