Punjab Assembly: ‘Raise lawmakers’ salaries to improve governance’

Members say MPAs’ salaries have been raised in other provinces.

LAHORE:

Lawmakers were again unable on Friday to pass the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) Bill for lack of quorum.

Also, in the truncated session, Home Minister Shuja Khanzada briefed the House on the law and order situation in the province and opposition members joined hands with their treasury colleagues to demand a raise in their salaries.

The PCTB bill was also kept pending on Thursday for lack of quorum. A charged up opposition put up resistance on Friday to several clauses of the bill.Opposition called for including a religious scholar, nominated by the Ulema Council of Pakistan, in the proposed PCTB and nomination of two lawmakers to its advisory council.



Rehman opposed the amendments.

Jamaat-i-Islami’s Waseem Akhtar accused the minister of being bent upon opposing every amendment proposed by the opposition. “At least try and give the impression that the House is independent.”

Aamir Sultan Cheema too was unimpressed. “The amount of interest shown by the treasury members is evident from their attendance,” he said.

Pointing out the quorum, he said he had earlier done so on Thursday to ensure that treasury members took up the legislation seriously.

Mian Khurram Jahangir Wattoo also pointed out the quorum. “Government benches should at least take the proposed amendments seriously,” he said.



Both the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board and the Nur International University Lahore bills were thus left pending.

Earlier, Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani had said the session had started an hour late with only five members in attendance.

Ayesha Javed said salaries of lawmakers should have been revised along with those of government employees. The majority of lawmakers from both sides favoured a raise.

Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said low salary was the reason many members were not motivated to take part in legislation. She said improving the pay structure would help improve governance in the province.

Gorchani assured members that he would take up the issue with law and finance secretaries on Monday.

Briefing the House on the security situation, Khanzada said criminals from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were involved in around 95 per cent cases of kidnapping for ransom in the Punjab.

“Several gangs of kidnappers from Malakand and Mardan are active in the Punjab. We have taken action against them.” He said the government was relying on intelligence-sharing to improve the situation. He said introduction of reforms in police and use of CCTV cameras had helped overcome the problem to a great extent. He said around 15,000 CCTV cameras were being installed at various places for better surveillance.

The minister said the abducted sons of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the late governor Salmaan Taseer were in Afghanistan.  He said security agencies had recovered Rana Jamil Hasan, an MPA who had been kidnapped, in December.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2015.