ISLAMABAD, Dec 6 (Online): Defence Secretary, Tariq Waseem admitted that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is facing crisis but work on different projects is being undertaken to take it out from the crisis.
Talking in the meeting of Public Accounts Committee of NA Standing Committee on Wednesday he said that the problems regarding PIA are of serious nature.
He said that Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Ministry of Finance are fully aware of the situation and they are regularly briefing about it.
Though the affairs and efficiency of PIA is constantly under supervision yet it is facing crisis, he said.
He further said that the current Chairman of PIA is working on different project to take it out from the crisis. The results yielded from these projects would be reviewed, he added
He said that due to conflicts between Audit office and it s concerned departments the situation remains ambiguous.
"We are ready to take the responsibility if committee review upon the recent audit papers. As far as the salaries and privileges of Chairman PIA concerned, these are fixed by the government", he said by adding that we will inform the committee about the rules and regulations according to which he is drawing salary and other privileges.
Chairman PIA Tariq Karmani further made it clear that neither he was drawing salary of Rs. 1 million per month nor he has taken his salary in advance.
"I am drawing my salary on the same pattern as I was drawing as MD PSO in the past, he added.
He also termed the news item appearing in one of the national daily as baseless in which is was said that PIA is facing crisis of Rs. 1.5 billion monthly.
Meanwhile, Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly on Wednesday took strong exception of the financial irregularities committed in the foreign offices of the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and directed for action against the responsible elements.
The meeting of the PAC was held at parliament house with its chairman Malik Allah Yar Khan in the chair. The committee members Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Qurban Ali Shah, Aasia Azim, Ghulam Rasool Sahi, Ali Akbar Vince, Sardar Ashiq Gopank, Riaz Fatiana, secretary defence, Waseem Ghazi, Auditor General Younas Khan, PIA chairman Tariq Kirmani and other officials attended the meeting.
Auditor General informed the meeting that PIA had rented out a portion at the JF Kennedy airport and its some part was given on lease to a Jordanian airline. He said that the rules and regulations set during the agreement with the airlines were not implemented and the national flag carrier had to suffer the loss of more than five lakh and one thousand US dollars. However, the PIA chairman differed the claim saying that one lakh and fifty thousands US dollars had been collected. He assured that action would be taken against the officials who struck the agreement.
The committee on the occasion rebuffed the PIA demand of writing off five-lakh dollars loan.
The meeting was told that the PIA General Manager in UK had permitted foreign press association membership in 1994 and two officers had been drawing 21250 UK pounds though they were not the members of the association.
The PAC also took notice of the non-collection of 12710 Saudi Riyal from Shaheen Air Cargo and directed for taking action against the responsibles and submitting report within a month.
The Public accounts committee, taking note on a newspaper report directed the chairman PIA to inform the meeting about the loss being suffered by the national airlines from Rs. 500 million to 1.5 billion per month for leasing aircrafts. But the chairman PIA denied the allegations saying that an airbus was taken on rent from Malaysia on the basis of requirements.
The committee also directed for submitting report pertaining to a plane of the Pakistan International Airlines that was stuck up in air pocket some days back.
The meeting was told that the PIA offices in London, Jeddah and New York failed to collect 3, 58, 724 dollars, 2,58,875 dollars and 63,215 dollars respectively from the travel agents but Tariq Kirmani said that about 90 percent amount had been collected. He said that the free ticket provided to the PIA officials was abused in past.
Secretary defence, Tariq Waseem Ghazi suggested that Public Accounts Committee must focus on the current audit paras as the cases of the past remains pending.
Qamaruz Zaman Kaira raised the issue of salary and privileges of the PIA chairman saying that Tariq Kirmani had been drawing Rs. 1 million salary and he had taken it in advance. He said that the committee be informed about the rules and regulations adopted about his salary and privileges.
Source: The Pakistani Newspaper
PIA in crisis: Secretary Defence
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PIA in crisis: Secretary Defence
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PAC takes suo motu notice of PIA deficit
ISLAMABAD: Defence Secretary Tariq Waseem Ghazi admitted Wednesday that PIA is facing crisis and president of Pakistan has also directed the national flag carrier to correct its affairs. While, Public Accounts Committee took suo motu notice of PIA’s deficit ranging from Rs500 million to Rs1.5 billion and ordered a probe into it.
The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly on Tuesday took strong exception to the irregularities in the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) and Survey of Pakistan and criticised the Ministry of Defence for not rectifying their failings.
The committee met here at Parliament House with Malik Allah Yar Khan as its chairman to discuss the Special Audit Report for fiscal year 2000-01 on the performance of the Defence Ministry and its attached departments.
The committee members observed that the corruption was rampant in the ministry. PIA and the Survey of Pakistan have been rife with corruption and favouritism for the last 50 years, they said.
The committee also expressed concern over the non-completion of an inquiry report into the Multan Fokker crash and directed the PIA authorities to submit the complete report to the committee at the earliest.
Discussing an audit objection regarding the Survey of Pakistan involving a Rs4 million theft from a safe of money meant for the employees’ House Building Fund, the committee ordered the recovery of the money from the responsible officials and disciplinary action against them.
Malik Allah Yar Khan directed Deputy Surveyor General Syed Haider Mehdi Jamal to also take action against the officials who had not taken action when the case was reported. “You should also streamline your system so that this practice is stopped permanently. It seems that you are wasting time and money in this department,†the PAC chief said.
He also directed Defence Secretary Tariq Waseem Ghazi to report to the committee about how many corruption cases had been referred to the National Accountability Bureau.
Later, PIA Chairman Tariq Kirmani briefed the committee on the performance of the airline and said the old age of the PIA fleet and high petroleum prices were the major reasons behind losses in his department. “Over-employment is another major reason,†he added.
He told the committee that PIA currently had 198,000 employees and 42 aircraft, which worked out to around 340 people per aircraft, while in most airlines the ratio was 100-130 employees per plane.
He said that the PIA was planning to acquire new fuel-efficient aircraft on lease to increase efficiency and cut the cost of fuel and maintenance. “The old aircraft are costing much in fuel and maintenance to the PIA,†he added.
Kirmani said that during financial year 2004-05, 24 percent of total revenue was spent on fuel. “We have only a Rs18 billion budget against the total consumption of Rs34 billion annual fuel consumption,†he said.
He said that despite all these difficulties, PIA did not compromise on quality of service and that’s why it was doing good business. “The PIA plans to sell out its hotels in France and New York through the Privatisation Commission to raise some money to acquire new planes,†he said.
Source: Pakistan Link
ISLAMABAD: Defence Secretary Tariq Waseem Ghazi admitted Wednesday that PIA is facing crisis and president of Pakistan has also directed the national flag carrier to correct its affairs. While, Public Accounts Committee took suo motu notice of PIA’s deficit ranging from Rs500 million to Rs1.5 billion and ordered a probe into it.
The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly on Tuesday took strong exception to the irregularities in the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) and Survey of Pakistan and criticised the Ministry of Defence for not rectifying their failings.
The committee met here at Parliament House with Malik Allah Yar Khan as its chairman to discuss the Special Audit Report for fiscal year 2000-01 on the performance of the Defence Ministry and its attached departments.
The committee members observed that the corruption was rampant in the ministry. PIA and the Survey of Pakistan have been rife with corruption and favouritism for the last 50 years, they said.
The committee also expressed concern over the non-completion of an inquiry report into the Multan Fokker crash and directed the PIA authorities to submit the complete report to the committee at the earliest.
Discussing an audit objection regarding the Survey of Pakistan involving a Rs4 million theft from a safe of money meant for the employees’ House Building Fund, the committee ordered the recovery of the money from the responsible officials and disciplinary action against them.
Malik Allah Yar Khan directed Deputy Surveyor General Syed Haider Mehdi Jamal to also take action against the officials who had not taken action when the case was reported. “You should also streamline your system so that this practice is stopped permanently. It seems that you are wasting time and money in this department,†the PAC chief said.
He also directed Defence Secretary Tariq Waseem Ghazi to report to the committee about how many corruption cases had been referred to the National Accountability Bureau.
Later, PIA Chairman Tariq Kirmani briefed the committee on the performance of the airline and said the old age of the PIA fleet and high petroleum prices were the major reasons behind losses in his department. “Over-employment is another major reason,†he added.
He told the committee that PIA currently had 198,000 employees and 42 aircraft, which worked out to around 340 people per aircraft, while in most airlines the ratio was 100-130 employees per plane.
He said that the PIA was planning to acquire new fuel-efficient aircraft on lease to increase efficiency and cut the cost of fuel and maintenance. “The old aircraft are costing much in fuel and maintenance to the PIA,†he added.
Kirmani said that during financial year 2004-05, 24 percent of total revenue was spent on fuel. “We have only a Rs18 billion budget against the total consumption of Rs34 billion annual fuel consumption,†he said.
He said that despite all these difficulties, PIA did not compromise on quality of service and that’s why it was doing good business. “The PIA plans to sell out its hotels in France and New York through the Privatisation Commission to raise some money to acquire new planes,†he said.
Source: Pakistan Link
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The Secretary MoD should have monitered the EC advisories rather than worrying about PIA CEO salary etc, etc. His reacted too late.Abbas Ali wrote:PAC takes suo motu notice of PIA deficit
ISLAMABAD: Defence Secretary Tariq Waseem Ghazi admitted Wednesday that PIA is facing crisis and president of Pakistan has also directed the national flag carrier to correct its affairs. While, Public Accounts Committee took suo motu notice of PIA’s deficit ranging from Rs500 million to Rs1.5 billion and ordered a probe into it.
The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly on Tuesday took strong exception to the irregularities in the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) and Survey of Pakistan and criticised the Ministry of Defence for not rectifying their failings.
The committee met here at Parliament House with Malik Allah Yar Khan as its chairman to discuss the Special Audit Report for fiscal year 2000-01 on the performance of the Defence Ministry and its attached departments.
The committee members observed that the corruption was rampant in the ministry. PIA and the Survey of Pakistan have been rife with corruption and favouritism for the last 50 years, they said.
The committee also expressed concern over the non-completion of an inquiry report into the Multan Fokker crash and directed the PIA authorities to submit the complete report to the committee at the earliest.
Discussing an audit objection regarding the Survey of Pakistan involving a Rs4 million theft from a safe of money meant for the employees’ House Building Fund, the committee ordered the recovery of the money from the responsible officials and disciplinary action against them.
Malik Allah Yar Khan directed Deputy Surveyor General Syed Haider Mehdi Jamal to also take action against the officials who had not taken action when the case was reported. “You should also streamline your system so that this practice is stopped permanently. It seems that you are wasting time and money in this department,†the PAC chief said.
He also directed Defence Secretary Tariq Waseem Ghazi to report to the committee about how many corruption cases had been referred to the National Accountability Bureau.
Later, PIA Chairman Tariq Kirmani briefed the committee on the performance of the airline and said the old age of the PIA fleet and high petroleum prices were the major reasons behind losses in his department. “Over-employment is another major reason,†he added.
He told the committee that PIA currently had 198,000 employees and 42 aircraft, which worked out to around 340 people per aircraft, while in most airlines the ratio was 100-130 employees per plane.
He said that the PIA was planning to acquire new fuel-efficient aircraft on lease to increase efficiency and cut the cost of fuel and maintenance. “The old aircraft are costing much in fuel and maintenance to the PIA,†he added.
Kirmani said that during financial year 2004-05, 24 percent of total revenue was spent on fuel. “We have only a Rs18 billion budget against the total consumption of Rs34 billion annual fuel consumption,†he said.
He said that despite all these difficulties, PIA did not compromise on quality of service and that’s why it was doing good business. “The PIA plans to sell out its hotels in France and New York through the Privatisation Commission to raise some money to acquire new planes,†he said.
Source: Pakistan Link