Lacklustre activity in PA, questions left unanswered

LAHORE

The Punjab Assembly Monday witnessed lacklustre activity as a substantial number of important public interest questions were left unanswered and the required quorum was unable to be reached prior to a highly anticipated discussion on the contentious subject of irrigation in the province.

The House reconvened on Monday with less than 50 parliamentarians in attendance on both benches. As Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was in Islamabad on official business, call attention notices concerning incidents of crime in Punjab and bills on canal drainage and amendments to the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) bill were ruled pending for later sessions. Since a poor number of parliamentarians were present, the treasury and opposition benches did not reach quorum and a discussion on irrigation was postponed.

Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Muhammad Nawaz Chohan encountered difficulties in the question hour on his respective department. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf MPA Mian Aslam Iqbal expressed his frustrations over the lack of government responses to queries regarding the mass transit system of Lahore and other cities. His question on the metro bus project for the city of Rawalpindi that was submitted in 2013 had still not received an answer after a period of three years and was ruled pending by the Assembly speaker. Iqbal alleged that the Punjab government was allocating a high number of resources for metro buses without the consultation of the legislative bodies and this was proceeding at breakneck speed completely unchecked. He added in his fiery tirade that the regional transport authorities in different districts of the province were understaffed and this badly affected the campaign against illegal passenger seats and unfit cylinders installed in vehicles.

To address the delays in getting responses to questions submitted by members, the speaker ruled that a period of three months would be given to submit a response from the relevant department. Upon failure in complying with the ruling, the speaker stated that the parliamentary secretary and cabinet members would be summoned to explain the lapse.

Members of the treasury bench including PML-N MPAs Muhammad Arshad Malik and Amjad Ali Javed also criticised the department for failing to enforce the Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1965 with taxi drivers continuing to overcharge passengers. It was mentioned that in spite of the global decrease in petroleum prices, transport vendors had not altered their prices accordingly and the public was continuing to suffer from high public transportation rates.

Meanwhile, Minister for Irrigation Mian Yawar Zaman took on questions regarding incomplete lining of water canals, burgeoning water theft in the province, and lack of government action against those responsible for the theft.

Raising a point of order, PML-N MPA Dr Farzana Nazeer criticised PTI Chief Imran Khan for his supposed remarks on the division of Indian and Pakistan administered Kashmir into three parts.

JI MPA Dr Syed Waseem Akhter censured Punjab government for allowing multinational pharmaceutical companies in the province to sell their goods at exorbitant prices, while charging considerably lower in countries including India and Iran. PML-N MPA Sheikh Allaudin in his adjournment motion on health joined the chorus of criticism stating that private hospitals in Punjab are guilty of overcharging patients and no law currently exists to regulate the sector. Meanwhile, leader of Opposition Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed chastised the government in his adjournment motion for failing to supply government hospitals with injections preventing tuberculosis in children.

  The session ended soon after question hour as independent MPA Ehsan Riaz Fatyana pointed out quorum and the House failed to gain more members even after a recess of 15 minutes. The assembly will resume on Tuesday (today).