Cabinet

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government ostensibly will ensure privileges for the members of parliament has approved certain amendments to Section 10 of the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974.

According to sources, the federal cabinet, during a meeting on February 25, approved the amendments to ensure perks, including 25 air tickets among other things, to 446 lawmakers that would cost taxpayers Rs300 million.

The lawmakers will be able to avail 25 business class air tickets from the respective constituency to Islamabad or vouchers worth over Rs0.8m that could also be used by their family members for travel. These amendments would be presented in parliament for approval later on.

They said that these amendments were proposed by the Parliamentary Affairs Division through a summary to the federal cabinet following the demands of some parliamentarians.

Documents available with Pakistan Today disclosed that the Cabinet considered the summary titled ‘The Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2020′ dated February 7 and approved the proposal given in the summary.

As per available documents, a meeting chaired by Minister for Aviation Division was earlier held on Feb 10 and attended by the parliamentary affairs minister and parliamentary leaders in Senate.