Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan has urged private channels not to broadcast indecent programmes in the name of Ramazan transmission.

He was responding to a question in the National Assembly during Question Hour.

The Minister of State said PEMRA monitors contents of about fifty-five private channels to check that they are not involved in obscenity, anti-Islamic teachings, and institutions of the country.

He said government is not against private channels to earn money, but they should take care of Pakistani culture and Islamic traditions in their content.

He said state channels like PTV has always kept showcasing of Pakistani culture and promoting Islamic traditions supreme. He said that complete monitoring and evaluation of the content shown on PTV is ensured. He said efforts are being made to convert three channels of PTV to High Definition.

Responding to a question, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul said the government is going to prohibit single use plastic bags in the federal capital by 14th August this year.

The Minister of State said her ministry distributed cotton bags among Parliamentarians and journalists as an alternative to plastic bags. 

She said five thousand cotton bags have been distributed amongst employees of the federal government and more are being procured for distribution in weekly Bazars and other markets free of cost.

Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan informed the House that PIA has launched new routes like Sialkot-Sharjah, Lahore-Muscat, Islamabad-Doha and Lahore-Bangkok, Kualalampur, Siakot-Paris-Barcelona, Peshawar-Sharjah, Pashwar-Al-Ain and Multan-Sharjah.

He said that PIA is also increasing frequencies and capacity on profitableroutes like Jeddah and Madinah especially from Faisalabad. 

To a question, Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Akram said 1,65,413 scholarships have been awarded to students across Pakistan in last five years.  She said fee reimbursement scheme is being extended to over 114 districts.

Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser directed Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to submit a detailed report within fifteen days regarding the website involved in spreading obscenity and vulgarity.

Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Nausheen Hamid said effective immunization campaigns are the only way to eradicate polio virus from the country.       

She was responding to a calling attention notice moved by Dr Samina Maltoob and others regarding increase in the number of polio cases in the country due to rise in refusal rate to administer polio vaccine to children.

Dr Nausheen Hamid said poliovirus continues to exist in sewage water in Pakistan causing eruption of this disease in various parts of the country.

She said polio vaccination campaigns are launched to fully eradicate the disease from Pakistan. She said a special campaign was launched in April, while the similar initiative would be launched in July next.

She said unfortunately, some elements create hurdles in the way of effective polio eradication campaigns. She said an exclusive social media cell has been established at her ministry to create awareness against polio.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says people of Pakistan are bearing the brunt of price hike.

Taking floor, he said people are sinking in tsunami of inflation. He was of the view that price-hike of petrol, gas, electricity and edible items indicate government’s incompetence and inability to generate revenue and collect taxes.

He said neither PPP nor people of Pakistan will accept deal with IMF if its approval is not sought from this house.

Condemning terrorist attack in Lahore, the PPP Chief urged the government to take terrorism seriously and implement national action plan.

Minister for Communication and Postal Services Murad Saeed says PPP government has failed to provide basic facilities in Sindh.    

Speaking on floor of the house, he said provision of potable water is one of the biggest problems in Sindh. He said about 1,500 childern died of malnutrition in Thar in two years.

He said PPP leadership is criticizing PTI government to hide its corruption.

The Minister said PTI government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan has started the journey of development in FATA and Balochistan.

He said the project to build five million houses has begun to provide affordable residence to common people of Pakistan.

He said shelter homes have been established in various parts of the country, where temporary stay and meals are provided free of cost.

"The University of Islamabad Bill, 2019” was introduced in the National Assembly.

Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Akram introduced the bill.

Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was presented in the National Assembly.

The bill is aimed at resetting the number of seats in National Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for erstwhile FATA.

The House will now meet at 10:30 in the morning tomorrow (Friday).