LAHORE: Both treasury and opposition members on Friday expressed concern over parliamentary secretaries asking for more time to respond to questions at the Provincial Assembly.
Sheikh Alauddin again gave tough time to Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Chauhdry Nazar Gondal.
Alauddin was unhappy on Thursday when Gondal had requested the speaker to keep pending the questions raised by the member.
Alauddin tabled two adjournment motions on Friday. One of these was about population growth and child marriages. He said the country’s population was growing at the rate of three per cent annually. By 2050, he said, it would be 350 million – 63 per cent of whom would be less than 25 years of age.
Gondal said the annual growth rate was 1.79 per cent. He said the government was taking steps to address the issue of child marriages.
Alauddin did not agree.
“Our population is growing rapidly. Things will be clearer the day we carry out a census.”
The MPA also tabled an adjournment motion about the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association’s refusal to provide free education to 10 per cent of their enrollment in line with the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Act.
He also said fees charged by private schools were not being monitored.
Gondal said he had not received a satisfactory answer from the department concerned, and requested that the issue be kept pending.
Issues regarding bureaucrats being made to sit through the proceedings and ensure timely start of sessions were also discussed.
Of the five adjournment motions moved by Aamir Sultan Cheema and Khadija Umar, four were also kept pending until next week on Gondal’s request.
These were related to use of substandard building material in Jhang, misappropriation in the purchase of paper by the Lahore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and Rs160 million the government was spending annually on death-row prisoners.
One of the motions tabled by Umar said that in 32 jails across the province, more than 5,800 prisoners were on death row.
Syed Waseem Akhtar also expressed concern over the parliamentary secretary’s request for keeping the motions pending.
“This is unacceptable. This has never been the norm in this House.”
The MPA also raised a question about monitoring of fees at private medical colleges.
Issues related to the Revenue and Colonies (Board of Revenue) Department and the annual report of the Parks and Horticulture Authority (2012-2013) were also discussed.
Parliamentary Secretary for Parks and Horticulture Authority Sajjad Haider said the authority endeavoured to provide entertainment to citizens at an affordable cost.
He said the PHA had organised several events, including flower shows, at public parks. Many lawmakers suggested that the authority’s role be expanded to more cities.
The session was postponed until 3pm on Monday.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ