ISLAMABAD - National Assembly on Friday approved a number of demands for grants of various Fderal Divisions including Cabinet, Communications and Education, while rejecting Opposition's cut motions with a majority of vote. The House approved Rs 59.6 billion demands for grants for the Cabinet Division, Rs 10.939 billion for Communications and Rs 25.374 billion for the Education Division. Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar presented the motions relating to the demands for grants and the respective ministers opposed the cut motions of the Opposition Members. The Members while debating on the demands for grants of the said Divisions questioned various allocations, pressing upon the Treasury benches to curtail the amount of grants, especially allocated under the heads of emergency relief, foreign tours and some other areas. The Members were of the view that the budgetary allocations for the education sector be raised. On the demands of Cabinet Division, the House rejected 194 cut motions presented by the Opposition Members on 14 out of 19 demands with a majority vote, as there were no cut motions on five demands for grants. Minister for Finance Syed Naveed Qamar moved the motions in the House while Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Farooq H. Naek opposed the cut motions on behalf of the government. MNA Dr Donia Aziz proposed to reduce Rs two billion allocations for relief and said it would exert extra burden on the economy. She was critical of the allocations of Rs two billion for holiday homes set up in Ziarat, Karachi and Murree to facilitate top officials and bureaucrats. Riaz Fatiyana said due to NAB, Benazir Bhutto remained in exile for many years, Asif Ali Zardari and Yousuf Raza Gilani were jailed on fake cases and demanded investigation as well as a check on such recurrences. Riaz Fatiyana said OGRA has also lost its utility and recommended its winding up. Fatiyana said there was no justification that a number of hospitals were working under Cabinet Division, rather these hospitals should be brought under the purview of the Health Ministry. MNA Bushra Rehman said that the parliament should be informed as to how much was being spent on protocol of the Prime Minister. She said the government had allocated a huge amount for foreign tours under the head of emergency relief and the House should be informed about gains of these visits. MNA Hamayun Saifullah Khan called for notifying the Council of Common Interest (CCI), saying, all the issues between federation and provinces should be resolved through the CCI. MNA Shehnaz Shaikh opposed allocation of huge amount for the purchase of helicopters and proposed improvement in devolution plan to make it more effective. Iqbal Qadri said, the CDA should upgrade its sanitation plan to save roads from dilapidation in rainy season. He also urged cut in the NAB budget. Dr Attiya Inayatullah expressed concern over fast growing population rate and said, special attention should be paid to youth employment and education. Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat said, the government had announced cut in the PM secretariat budget and the Cabinet Division should seek no further funds for it in terms of grants. About demands for grants for the Communications Division, the House rejected 55 cut motions presented by the Opposition Members on demands with a majority vote. Minister for Finance Syed Naveed Qamar moved the motion in the House while Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah opposed the cut motions on behalf of the government. Discussing the demands for grants on cut motions, Opposition Member Shahzada Mohiyuddin called for the construction of side roads of Lowari Tunnel and timely completion of Shandur Highway to promote tourism in the area. Kashmala Tariq said, being a commercial hub, Gwadar Port needed to be linked with other parts of the country to enhance business activity. She said the government should discourage the use of bitumen in construction activity and promote limestone as an economical option. Bushra Rehman said the poor performance of post offices had encouraged the business of private courier service though still there was need for a monitoring mechanism in terms of courier charges. She also proposed introducing special transport service for the working women in all the major cities. Kishan Chand said the government should strengthen railway sector to reduce fuel cost as well as traffic congestion on roads. He said huge amount was collected under the head of toll tax on highways but it was not spent to repair the roads. Hamayun Saifullah criticized unnecessary delay in completion of Indus Highway project that was initiated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto around 38 years ago. He said the remaining work on the Highway would incur Rs 6 billion whereas only Rs 100 million have been allocated in the budget for fiscal year 2008-09. Akram Masih suggested to introduce signal-free traffic system in all the provincial headquarters where, he said, traffic congestion had become a permanent nuisance, and called for improvements in Communications Division to bring efficiency in transport system across the country. In response to the criticism of the Members, Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah told the National Assembly that the government had taken up the Lowari Tunnel project on a war footing and it would be completed in 2009. Replying to cut motions by the Opposition on demand for grants for communications sector, he said that this project was announced by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the government was committed to carry forward his vision. The people of Chitral would soon hear good news in this regard. He said the cut motions moved by the Opposition Members were pertinent as these were based on the performance of the previous government. He assured that next year they would not feel to move such motions as the government had planned a number of projects in the communications sector. He said work on 25 kilometre long road from Mansehra to Bhasha would soon be completed. This Rs 14 billion project would be a direct link to Bhasha Dam and would facilitate during construction of the Dam. Regarding the demands for grants for Education, the House rejected the Opposition's 59 cut motions and approved Rs 25.374 billion worth demands for grants for the Division. Attiya Inayatullah speaking on cut motions said the PML (Q) government provided free books to 11 million matric students. She said the girl students' dropout rate in Punjab during the PML (Q) government decreased considerably as it provided them Rs 200 monthly stipend. Nosheen Saeed said Education was most vital to build healthy and vibrant nation and could correct all the social evils. The public, private and madrassa schools education system should be uniform all over the country, she added. "Are we trying to impart military thinking to our children," she asked, adding that Rs 50 million had been earmarked for cadet colleges in Punjab while those in Balochistan would get only Rs 5 million which would further create a sense of deprivation in that province.