ISLAMABAD - The Upper House of the Parliament Wednesday pledged Rs 14.8 million for the flood-affected people of Sindh and Rs 25,000 have been deducted from the salary of every senator. In the start of the Senate proceedings, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) staged a token walkout from the house after Senator Babar Ghauri said that the government was not serious in nabbing terrorists in Karachi despite the action taken by the Rangers there. He further said that the government was not dealing with the terrorists with an iron hand and recently some traders had been abducted in Sher Shah Market of the metropolitan city. Presiding Officer of the House Senator Kazim Khan turned down the request of Interior Minister Rehman Malik for the prorogation of the Senate proceedings keeping in view the flash floods faced by Sindh. Senator Ishaq Dar of PML-N, who is heading a collection committee to raise funds for the flood-affected people on behalf of the Senate, informed that legislators would manage purchase of relief items under the committee's supervision and themselves visit the flood-affected areas for distribution of these items among the people. He, while informing the house about the decisions of the Special Flood Committee of the Senate that met the other day, said that Rs 25,000 each had been deducted from the salaries of all lawmaker with consensus for the Senate Emergency Relief Fund. "Some senators have given donations in addition to that," he added. A few lawmakers also made pledges on the floor of the house including Rehman Malik, Wali Mohammad Badeni and Gul Mohammad Lot after Ishaq Dar calculating the collected as well as pledged amount said that total amount stood at Rs 14.4 million. "The Upper House will request the Prime Minister to allocate more development funds from Rs 29 billion under his discretion to the flood-affected areas as earlier decided by the committee," he informed. The PML-N leader said that several committees like Purchase & Procurement Committee, Distribution Committee and Need Assessment Committee had been formed, as decided in the meeting of Flood Committee, to supervise and ensure transparency in the distribution of relief items among the people of Sindh affected by devastating floods. Senator Wali Mohammad Badeni and Sabir Baloch, both belonging to Balochistan, alleged that their home province was being ignored despite the fact it was also affected by rains and floods. During the session, Interior Minister Rehman Malik pledged Rs 200,000, Humayun Khan Mandokhel Rs 500,000 and MQM donated Rs 500,000 for flood victims. Senators of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) announced one-month salary and asked the Prime Minister to divert FATA development fund amounting to Rs 30 million to flood relief fund. Ishaq Dar asked the contributing senators to give cheques of pledged amount by Thursday. He said Purchase and Procurement Committee would itself purchase relief items from Karachi market, urging all the political parties to nominate one representative for distribution committee as relief items among flood victims would be distributed under the banner of Senate. The house was also informed that Senate Emergency Relief Fund would launch an appeal to overseas Pakistanis to contribute for flood-affected people on the proposal of Senator Ghulam Nabi Bangash of ANP. Leader of the Opposition Maulana Ghafoor Haideri speaking on the flood situation said that agriculture tax and utility bills of the people living in flood areas should be waived off.