A file photo of Punjab Assembly in session. PHOTO: ONLINE
LAHORE:
Law Minister Rana Sanaullah assured the Opposition on Monday that construction of the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project would not affect work on any other development project in the province.
He was responding to Leader of Opposition Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed’s complaint about diversion of funds originally allocated for other development projects to the OLMT project.
Sanaullah said funds diverted from other projects would be returned to these projects in March and April. He said Rs1,500 million had been taken from an energy project and Rs700 million (surplus amount) from a project titled Ujaala. He said the Opposition should rest assured that none of the projects for which allocations had been made would be closed down.
Responding to Rasheed’s suggestion that three-marla residential plots should also be allotted to families displaced from Postal and Parachute Colonies, Jain Mandir and Kapurthala House, Sanaullah claimed the displaced families were satisfied with the land acquisition process. He said the government had released between Rs7.5 billion and Rs8 billion in compensation payments. Payment for only about a third of the compensation funds remained, he said.
About disputed properties, Sanaullah said government representatives were holding meetings with the parties concerned to resolve such disputes. He invited Rasheed to attend the meetings.
However, Rasheed said the Opposition would not support the project and would continue to raise a voice against it in the House. “The project has caused financial hardship to around a million people,” he said.
An argument ensued between the Treasury and the Opposition benches following Sanaullah’s claim that both PML-Q and PPP members had agreed to meet the chief minister to discuss disbursement of development funds for their constituencies. However, he said, PTI members had refused to do so. Rasheed dismissed the claim as a lie and said that the government had ignored Opposition members’ constituencies in disbursement of funds. Speaking in his support, PML-Q and PPP members condemned the government for ignoring their constituencies. Vickas Hassan Mokal said commitments made in a meeting between a PML-Q delegation and the chief minister had not been honoured. PPP parliamentary leader Qazi Ahmad Saeed echoed his concerns.
Earlier, the discussion on OMLT project formally concluded in the House with Sanaullah’s speech. The Opposition benches were walking out of the House in protest against Speaker Rana Iqbal’s refusal to allow an adjournment motion seeking further debate on the issue when Sanaullah rose to deliver the speech. The motion stated that Rs870 million had been withdrawn from the district governments’ budget and diverted to the OMLT project.
In his speech, Sanaullah reiterated points made by him and other ministers in defence of the project on previous occasions. He said the implementation of the project was underway in accordance with surveys and studies commissioned for the purpose since 1991.
On construction work near heritage sites, Sanaullah said it would cause no harm to any of these sites. He said nowhere in the world was there a prohibition on construction within 200 feet of heritage sites. Stations for several similar mass transit projects had been established across the world in the vicinity of heritage sites, he said.
During the question hour, the House was informed that an anti-adulteration campaign was underway in the province. The secretary concerned said that so far Rs50 million fines had been imposed, 28, 600 FIRs registered and 282,000 places sealed for various violations.
MPA Faiza Malik urged the Chair to ensure that a bill on women protection was taken up during the session. She said the bill had been pending for three years.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2016.
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