‘Punjab to hold LB polls within 30 days after ECP schedule’

LAHORE: Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Community Development Ramzan Siddique Bhatti on Tuesday on the floor of the Punjab Assembly stated the government was committed to holding local body polls within 30 days after an announcement of the schedule and delimitations by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
He was answering questions posed by JI MPA Dr. Syed Waseem Akhter on delays in the local government elections in the province. The opposition member, addressing the situation of the local government in Punjab, said the system under former President Pervez Musharraf was far superior as basic issues of general public were resolved.
The Punjab Assembly’s session was reconvened after a one month break with a total of 44 MPAs present out of which only four MPAs from the opposition bench were present. Interestingly, it was announced that on the decision of the business advisory committee the daily attendance of all the PA members would be recorded on the official website of the House.
Chaired by Acting Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani as Rana Iqbal has taken the charge of Acting Governor, the assembly on Tuesday formed a panel for the chairmanship of the House consisting of PPP leader MPA Qazi Ahmed Saeed, PML-N MPA Engineer Qamar-ul-Islam, PML-N MPA Mian Marghoob, and PML-N MPA Raheela Khadim Hussain.
The PA session on Tuesday was subject to disorder with independent MPA Ehsan Riaz Fatyana pointing out the quorum three times in a row. This caused interruptions to the routine assembly business with the assembly members forgoing rules and making the House nothing short of a fish-market. The visibly annoyed Speaker spent most of the session silencing disorderly members on both benches.
The department of the Local Government and Community Development came under fire in the Assembly on Tuesday with questions raised over the lack of inquiries carried out against the corrupt members of the union council bodies, selling of waste to private compost companies, illegal granting of tower licences without permission of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), road accidents near Bahawal Victoria Hospital, scarcity of water filtration plants in Lahore, and encroachment of roads by street vendors in Islampura bazaar.
Parliamentary Secretary Ramzan Bhatti responded to the criticism with the assurance that under Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif Saaf Paani project the government was installing 187 water infiltration plants in the provincial metropolis. Bhatti assured the opposition bench that his department had identified all areas in the province with arsenic water and had issued feasibility reports in this regard. He informed the PA that an estimate 500 to 1000 tons of waste was given to a private company at 52 rupees per ton in return of revenue of more than 100 million rupees.
Addressing the grant of illegal tower licence, the Local Government Parliamentary Secretary informed the assembly that the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) was actively working against such malpractice. Bhatti further added that all the encroached roads were being cleared and funds had been allocated to improve the government buildings in a hazardous condition.
Earlier, the Acting Speaker had directed Provincial Minister for Industries Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique and PML-N MPA Mansha Ullah Butt to talk with the protesting paramedics on Tuesday. The paramedical staff of the government hospitals had been protesting against a fake Umrah travel agency that took their money without issuing their tickets. Briefing the house, Minister Shafique said CM Shahbaz Sharif had already taken notice of such agencies doing false advertisement and an FIR had been registered against owners.
The Speaker also instructed the Law Minister, absent on Tuesday, to give a briefing on security arrangement of all the educational institutions in the province in the aftermath of the APS Peshawar tragedy after a point of order.
Raising points of order, PML-Q MPA Khadijah Umar chastised the government for imposing a five percent GST tax on petrol and increasing regulatory tax to the disadvantage of the poor. Meanwhile, PML-N MPA Malik Muhammad Waheed alerted the House to the illegal detention of innocent persons by police in Punjab under the new amendments to the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.
PML-N MPA Shaikh Allaudin, dissatisfied by the replies given by Parliamentary Secretary for Law to his adjournment motion, demanded the government on Tuesday to provide evidence of free enrolment of poor children in the elite schools of Punjab. It is important to note that under the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Act 2014 all the private schools in the province are to have a 10 percent quota for free education for financially needy children. The angry PML-N MPA blasted the Punjab government for failing to implement the quota to the benefit of aspiring students of the poor financial background. It was resolved by the Speaker that a special committee would be devised in this regard and Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashhood would brief the House on the state of the affairs.
It is important to note however that the chair of the standing committee on education Engineer Qamar-ul-Islam had previously stated that the Punjab Private Education Commission Bill would be tabled in the Assembly soon and students, applying in the April and June admission season, would benefit from the 10 percent quota.