PA passes 4 resolutions despite quorum issue

LAHORE

Punjab Assembly on Tuesday passed four resolutions unanimously despite lackluster turnout of members from both benches. Resolutions moved by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Ahmed Khan Bachar on completing missing facilities in Rural Health Centres and Basic Health Units in the province and requesting the federal government to stop the sale of adulterated medicines, by PTI MPA Nausheen Hamid on a campaign and facilities, including free tests to prevent cervical cancer, and PTI MPA Naheed Naeem Rana on steps to stop the sale of adulterated food and beverage items in the province were approved without a single objection. 

Meanwhile, resolutions submitted by PML-Q MPA Chaudhry Amir Sultan Cheema on fairness in the distribution of wheat by the government and PTI MPA Muhammad Sibtain Khan to raise the official minimum wage to Rs20,000 was shelved as members were not present in the House. A resolution tabled by PML-N MPA Sheikh Allauddin on the executions of Jamaat-i-Islami leaders in Bangladesh was ruled pending along with a resolution by PML-N MPA Hina Pervaiz Butt binding the government to depute only female technicians for ultrasound in public hospitals and private laboratories. 

Question hour focused on departments of housing, urban development, and public health engineering in Punjab with Parliamentary Secretary Sajjad Haider Gujjar taking questions on accessibility to clean drinking water, delayed transfer of ownership rights to residents of Lahore’s Youhana and Junejo colonies, inefficiency of Gujranwala Development Authority and dirty canals in residential communities. Sajjad Haider Gujjar answered almost all questions with the same statement that the government was working on these weak areas. 

The House also witnessed a short debate on amendments to the rules and procedures of Punjab Assembly. Raising a point of order, PML-N MPA Sheikh Allauddin said the newly devised Zero Hour was intended to give members an opportunity to voice their grievances in the House but the PA Speaker would not allow the members to speak after the relevant minister and parliamentary secretary had given their replies. Talking in a similar vein, PML-N MPA Malik Ahmed Khan said the answers in most cases were not even relevant to the questions being asked. It is pertinent to also note here that a series of adjournment motions was unaddressed as the relevant parliamentary secretaries were not present in the House.  The KP Assembly delegation that arrived in Lahore on Tuesday led by KP Minister Shaukat Yousafzai was welcomed in the House by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, the Leader of the Opposition PTI MPA Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, and leaders of other political parties. The delegation was to participate in a friendly match with members of Punjab Assembly at Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday evening. The House will resume today (Wednesday).