Quorum: Lawmakers fail to turn up at PA

The agenda will now be taken up at the assembly session today

LAHORE: The agenda for the day at the Provincial Assembly session on Thursday was abandoned after the Question Hour due to low attendance in the House.

The hour-long session was chaired by Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal. It started with just eight legislators in attendance. Attendance peaked at 50 when the session was adjourned after quorum was pointed out by Ehsan Riaz Fatyana.

Minister for Mines and Minerals Sher Ali Khan responded to questions about the Local Government and Community Development Department.

Arif Abbasi, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker from Rawalpindi, questioned the delay in completion of the Leh Expressway Project. The project was approved in 2007.

Abbasi said flooding in Leh river claimed scores of lives every year. He asked why the government had failed to complete the project.

The minister replied that the project had been a federal government scheme which had been dropped. “I don’t know why the project was wrapped up but I am sure the answer can be sought from the federal government.”

“There is no denying the devastation caused by Leh flooding,” he said. “We must raise awareness among citizens to prevent encroachments in area prone to flooding.”Delay in completion of development projects in south Punjab sparked a debate when minister was questioned over loans granted by the Asian Development Bank in this regard.

The answer sent by the department said that in collaboration with the ADB, 11 out of 13 schemes in the project had been completed. The department wrote that two projects had been held up over shortage of funds and staff.

The Chair referred the issue to a parliamentary committee on Syed Waseem Akhtar insistence.

Questions related to illegal parking stands in Lahore, construction of roads and parks in Sahiwal and urban waste management in Faisalabad were also taken up.

The session will continue on Friday (today). The agenda from Thursday would be taken up again.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2016.