PIA asked to reduce fares (12112008)

Senate standing committee on defence production has directed PIA to review its decision on upward revision in Hajj fares and reduce them besides apprising the committee of a business plan and providing it an audit report in regard to spare parts of 777 Boeing while PIA has refused to decrease the fares saying its debt has scaled up to 143 billion rupees including loss suffered by it to the tune of Rs 38 billions during the last 9 months.
PIA is losing colossal amount of money, 38 billion in 9 months. This amount is enough to provide food subsidy of Rs.6000 per household to one million families for six months. Does PIA provide relief to one million families to survive and be able to earn an extra meal a day? It does not. This is the aspect of PIA's business the Senators as the representatives of the people should be looking at. The Senate should be looking at the reasons PIA is losing so much money and try to find a way to stop this burden on the government because PIA is eating away the scarce resources of this poor country, it is depriving one million families of a huge subsidy which can make a significant difference to their quality of life.
Anyone who goes on Hajj does so because God has granted him the resources to do that, because no one else is required to except those who have the financial means. Thus, if PIA is charging them a fare that is affordable for PIA then be it. If the Senate wants to encourage free competition and fair play then they should ensure that PIA has no unreasonable monopoly on the Hajj flights but forcing PIA in fare fixing is absurd. Part of the problem PIA faces is because of the Senators, the MNAs, the MPAs, the Army officers and Bureaucrats who travel on subsidy and demand that they are given seats without any reservation, this puts additional burden on PIA. But this is not something any Senator or Member of Assembly is prepared to do. To add to PIA's misery the government has recruited more people in PIA to appease its party workers, as well as, giving the dismissed workers benefits for past employment.
Senate should focus on making laws that ensure that institutions like PIA do not bleed the economy at the expense of food for the poor people, rather than taking up issues like reducing Hajj fares, which at best affects some one lac people who can afford to pay anyway. Senate should also try and restrain the political government from taking decisions that destroy national institutions, as well as, set an example by reducing the burden on PIA by curtailing its own privileges.