Centre, provinces owe Rs31.31 billion to Wapda, Senate told

ISLAMABAD - Ministry of Water and Power, Friday, informed the Upper House that various federal and provincial governments departments owed Rs31.36 billion to WAPDA till the end of February 2010. In written reply to a question by Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, the Ministry informed that various federal government departments owed Rs1.6 billion to WAPDA, which also had outstanding dues to the tune of Rs1.03 billion against defence services. In the detailed break up, Sindh stands as the biggest defaulter, owing Rs21.38 billion to WAPDA, followed by Punjab with outstanding dues to the tune of Rs 3.64 billion. NWFP Rs1.15 billion, FATA Rs0.52 billion and Balochistan owed Rs2.01 billion to WAPDA. Immediately after the start of the session, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes due to absence of ministers, which could resume only after the Question Hour was over. On resumption, Senator Raza Rabbani presented report on recommendations of the Constitutional Reforms Committee. Senator Rabbani, Chairman of the Committee, also made a brief speech, spelled out salient features of the report and paid glowing tributes to the members of the Committee. Senator Raza Rabbani said that dictators created polarisation and trust deficit among the provinces as well as the centre and warned that the federation could sustain serious harms if the establishment did not change its mindset of circumventing the Constitution. The Ministry of Water and Power also informed that the issue pertaining to the design of Baglihar Dam had been settled with India while the issues regarding initial filling of the said Dam are still to be resolved. The Ministry also informed that Pakistan had sought intervention of Neutral Expert as provided in the Indus Water Treaty 1960, for resolution of dispute over Kishenganga project. The Ministry also informed that Government had initiated 16 projects for generation of 15,558 MW hydropower. The House was also informed that Pakistan received $ 3.72 billion Foreign Direct Investment during the year 2008-09. The House was prorogued sine President addresses to the joint session.