Next budget in new Punjab Assembly building: Govt can prove who caused disorder in PA, says minister

LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat has said Punjab Assembly will present its next budget for the year 2019-20 in the new building of the assembly.

Talking to journalists on Friday, the law minister stated that the “hooliganism” in Punjab Assembly during the budget speech was lamentable and the PML-N had inflicted a loss of around Rs 1 million to the national exchequer.

He stated, “As legislators, we must play a constructive role and the Opposition should set good precedent rather than violating the laws, rules and procedures. The law minister said it was mandatory for the members of the PA to maintain the decorum of the House.

The minister also stated that the propaganda of the Opposition that it didn’t cause any damage to the assembly and the government issued photographs of the damaged material to malign the PML-N was totally false.

He said the senior police officials as well as the local police station officials also visited the PA after the budget day incident, whereas, the government had complete proof in the form of TV footages, photographs as to who caused disorder in the PA.

Regarding the local government system, Raja Basharat said the Punjab government, under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan for empowerment of the masses and transfer of power to the grassroots, was working to come up with an effective LG plan.

He said the PTI government was committed to empowering the people of Pakistan. He also said the provision of basic facilities to public such as clean drinking water, health and education was priority of the government.

The law minister also said the government was taking measures to address the energy issues. A dam project is also underway in Rawalpindi, he added. He praised the role of Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in running the assembly proceedings with a commitment and in accordance with the rules.

He stated that in both his tenures, whether it was between 1997-99 or the present one, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had always shown competence in running the House while moving along with all the stakeholders.

Raja said it was lamentable that many projects in health, education sectors initiated by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as a chief minister were not made functional by the previous provincial government led by Shahbaz Sharif. He said a college building in Rawalpindi that was inaugurated in 2006 by the then CM was giving a deserted look just because the PML-N government didn’t make the college operational.