No int’l guests at PAC fete amid COVID threat

No foreign invitees will attend the centenary celebrations of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) amid growing concerns over the new coronavirus variant Omicron, its chairperson Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Friday.

Delegates from 52 countries, including Pakistan, were invited for the two-day event beginning Saturday.

Most of the countries have responded to the invites and conveyed their wishes, but Pakistan is yet to do so, said Chowdhury, a Congress leader.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu are scheduled to attend the event.

According to Chowdhury, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been invited for the event but confirmation about his presence is awaited.

Addressing a press conference here, Chowdhury said,

“Delegates from 52 countries were invited for the centenary celebrations but none of them is attending due to the scare of new Covid variant Omicron.”

Asked whether Pakistan was also invited for the event, Chowdhury said it was but it didn’t give any response.

All the invites were extended through the Ministry of External Affairs, he said.

Asked about any audit of the PM Cares Fund, Chowdhury said, “Our hands are tied as PM Cares Fund does not come under the ambit of CAG.”

The PAC -- one of the three financial standing committees in Indian Parliament -was established in 1921 under the Indian British government to check revenue and expenditure of the government of India.

The committee consists of 22 members -- 15 from Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha. According to convention, the panel is chaired by the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha