Punjab Assembly: Tehrik-i-Insaf lawmakers welcomed back in House

Opposition Leader Mahmood Rashid seconds the govt’s proposal to prioritise law and order

LAHORE:

Opposition Leader Mian Mahmoodur Rashid and 12 other Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf MPAs were welcomed back to the House with thumping of desks on Monday. Addressing the House, Mahmood commended the role of opposition parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Jamaat-i-Islami during the PTI-PML-N government tussle. He said all political parties had agreed on the need to fix the election process and to ensure that no one could rig elections in future. He said the PTI had faith in the democratic institutions of the country. However, he added, protesting on the roads would always remain an option. The opposition leader echoed the government’s priorities for the upcoming budget as he identified law and order, education and health as the areas where the government should focus.

Earlier, Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rahman completed a pre-budget speech he had started during the Friday’s session. He could not complete the speech on Friday as the session was adjourned owing to lack of quorum.

On Monday, Rahman mentioned law and order, besides education and health, as the government’s priority for the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. He said funds would be allocated for the recently set up counter terrorism and street crime control (Dolphin) forces as well as for ensuring security for prisons. In education, he identified missing facilities at education institutes and promotion of technical education as the government priorities.

He said funds would be allocated in the upcoming budget for the establishment of trauma and kidney disease treatment centres. Establishment of more rural health centres and basic health units and provision of missing facilities at the existing healthcare facilities would also be taken into consideration, he added.

Rahman said the government was setting up a health insurance for the income-poor families in the province at a cost of Rs2 billion. He said 62 emergency treatment centres had already been set up in the province. He said Rs 13 billion had been spent so far on installation of filtration plants and Rs400 million for provision of toilets in rural areas.

The finance minister said constructed of a solar power project with a 100 MW production capacity had been completed and was ready to be launched in a month’s time.

Agriculture, sports, women development, youth and minorities affairs were identified as other priority areas for the upcoming budget.

Bill on regulation of private schools

A standing committee is currently vetting draft legislation on regulation of private schools in the process. The draft will be presented before the House once the committee had completed its deliberations, Education Minister Rana Mashhood told the House. He was responding to a question during the question hour on the Schools Education Department.

The assembly also passed two amendments (Punjab Disabled Persons Bill of 2015 and the Lahore Arts Council Bill of 2015) and a bill (the Punjab Social Protection Authority Bill 2015). Proposed raises in salaries of the Assembly staff and lawmakers, and the lack of adequate facilities at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology were also taken up at the session.

Briefing on dengue fever

Khawaja Salman Rafique, advisor to the chief minister on health, said currently there was no danger of a dengue outbreak in the province. He said of the three people recently diagnosed with the disease, two had caught it during their stay in Karachi and one in Saudi Arabia.

The session has been prorogued indefinitely.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2015.