Livestock minister, secy absence from PA session draws Opp ire

LAHORE:Punjab Assembly members on Wednesday expressed anger over the absence of livestock minister and secretary during the question hour session in PA.

During the question hour session related to Livestock and Dairy Development, Opposition MPAs started to raise objections over the absence of the secretary concerned as well as the apathetic attitude of Punjab ministers towards the assembly business.

Ejaz Shafi, PTI MPA from Rahim Yar Khan, stated that around 300 adjournment motions of Opposition were still pending whereas Rana Shahbaz of Opposition drew the attention of the House towards the absence of minister concerned whose ministry’s related questions were to be taken up. Shahab ud Din Khan Sehar, Opposition MPA from Layyah, said neither the minister concerned nor the secretary was present on the occasion. He said the level of seriousness could be assessed from the fact that not a single minister of Punjab was present in the House.

Deputy Speaker Zaheer Iqbal Channar on the occasion also expressed dismay over the absence of key officials. However, it was revealed that Secretary Livestock was on leave. On most of the occasions, in the absence of ministers, parliamentary secretaries have to answer the queries of legislators and most of the times, they have been criticised by their colleagues for providing wrong answers. Amjed Ali Javaid, PMLN MPA from Toba Tek Singh, also expressed similar complaint over the answer received from the department. He was told by the parliamentary secretary for livestock that there had been no missing facility in the veterinary hospitals of TT Singh. Amjed Ali Javaid also expressed surprise why an amount of mere Rs18 million out of Rs 1,250 million was spent in first phase and only Rs12 million out of total Rs1,390 million were spent in second phase in the sector. Meanwhile, a ruling party MPA requested the chair to table the Bill in Punjab Assembly to set up public park on the land occupied by Lahore Gymkhana. However, the speaker on the occasion referred the issue related to the Gymkhana report to the privilege committee. The session was prorogued later.