PA passes Kite Flying Prohibition, other bills

LAHORE:Punjab Assembly on Monday passed 12 bills including the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying (Amendment) Bill amid boycott from the Opposition.

After the Opposition pointed out the quorum and its members staged boycott of the proceedings, the government completed the required numbers and passed 12 bills in its Monday sitting. Deputy Speaker Zaheer Iqbal Channar later adjourned the session. The 12 bills passed were the Punjab Alternate Dispute Resolution (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Probation of Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Punjab Education, Curriculum, Training and Assessment Authority Bill 2025, the Punjab Protected Areas (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Punjab Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Punjab Water and Sanitation Authority Bill 2025, the Defence Housing Authority Rawalpindi (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Punjab Establishment of Special Courts (Overseas Pakistanis Property) Bill 2025, the Punjab Tianjin University of Technology Bill 2025, the Mir Chakkar Khan Rind University of Science and Technology Bill 2025 and the Punjab University of Technology Rasul (Amendment) Bill 2025.

Rejecting the way the government hurriedly passed the bills, the Opposition leader in PA Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar said the rules were bulldozed by the ‘TikTokers’ government. Talking to media outside PA, Bhachar said only 52 members were present in the House when quorum was pointed out. Besides, he said the Chairmen of Standing Committees who were PTI MPAs had not been allowed to reach the assembly due to cases. Earlier, during the question hour session, Punjab Minister for Environment Marriyum Aurangzeb told the House that to control smog, concrete measures had been taken by the government. She stated that 12 brick kilns in the province had been demolished whereas 12 special squads had been established for pollution control whereas fines around Rs50 million had been imposed on the factories contributing to environmental hazards. She said cases had been registered against 503 factories and electricity supply to the same number of factories had been suspended.

Senior Opposition member Rana Aftab on a point of order voiced concern over the unavailability of clean drinking water to the population. Opposition leader Malik Ahmad Khan on the occasion stated that the Senior Minister Punjab (Marriyum Aurangzeb) was holding portfolio of five ministries and the House wanted to know where the funds for environmental protection had been spent.