**FBR Revenue Collection Jumps 26%, National Assembly Informed**
The National Assembly (NA) heard on Friday that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has seen a significant increase in revenue collection this fiscal year, with a reported 26% rise by February.
Minister of State for Railways, Bilal Azhar Kayani, shared the update during a Calling Attention Notice, further noting that the number of tax filers has also grown, and overall economic indicators have shown improvement over the past year.
Kayani also discussed progress on the ML-1 project, mentioning an upcoming visit from a Chinese technical team to further advance the initiative. He highlighted that improvements to the rail infrastructure between Karachi and Hyderabad are included in Package One of the ML-1 upgrade.
Additionally, Kayani pointed out that Pakistan Railways has successfully outsourced the commercial management of several trains to private contractors, resulting in a substantial boost in revenue. He added that security on trains in Balochistan has been heightened following the Jaffar Express incident, with plans to fence the Quetta railway station.
In other news from the session, Minister of State for National Health Services, Mukhtar Ahmad Malik, addressed healthcare initiatives. He confirmed that a healthcare insurance scheme for federal government employees is under consideration, with ongoing studies to define the scope of treatment facilities to be offered.
Malik also provided an update on several projects aimed at upgrading PIMS (Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences) in Islamabad. These include an Accident and Emergency Center expected to be completed by June of this year, and a cancer hospital projected to be finished by next year. A new Jinnah Medical Complex is also planned to alleviate the load on PIMS, with a groundbreaking anticipated in April.
The National Assembly session has now been adjourned.