ISLAMABAD: Many in the Senate learnt to their shock on Friday that the CPEC’s western route that the government claimed giving top priority did not exist even in the Chinese record.

On the last day of the last session of the Senate’s parliamentary year with 52 of its members retiring, the PkMAP parliamentary leader in the House Senator Usman Khan Kakar said during their visit to China they came to know that there is no record of the western route in the Chinese record. He lauded Senator Taj Haider, the convener of the Special Committee on CPEC, for working tremendously on the issue and taking it up with authorities.

He said the committee has presented five reports, whereas the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC, having representation from both houses of the Parliament, could not present a single report. Taj Haider said while their visit was arranged by the Chinese Embassy, the committee members did their utmost to sensitise the hosts to the critical importance of western route.

Kakar cautioned that it is being speculated that the sugarcane growers might not cultivate the crop this year as they are not being paid even the minimum support price fixed by the government. The committee in its report recommended to the federal and provincial governments to evolve a mechanism to ensure payment of a reasonable price to the growers and the notified price should be implemented by the cane commissioners and also by the respective provinces.

Senator Muzaffar Shah also presented the final report of the Senate special committee on the performance of PIA. He said they visited Karachi and interacted with the relevant officers and even former chairmen of the airlines. He said the report, if implemented, would help resolve most of the issues of the state-owned entity. He particularly praised Senators Farhatullah Babar and Abdul Qayyum for their input in this connection.