Time to kill: PA agenda left over due to thin attendance

LAHORE:

Thin attendance at the Provincial Assembly on Thursday prevented discussion on the Punjab Pension Fund which had been on the agenda. The session was adjourned till Friday (today) once lack of quorum was pointed out from the Opposition benches.

The 90-minute session failed to elicit a ruling from the Chair on any of the issues raised by lawmakers.

Environment Minister Zakia Shahnawaz and Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Babar Hussain participated in the question hour in the absence of Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha.

During the question hour, the House was informed that Lahore had eight inspectors under district environment officer. The House was told that there were 1,700 factories in the district. Shahnawaz said more were being recruited, adding that the inspectors had support staff as well.

The House was informed that the government was working on eliminating plastic bags under a phased plan. The session was told that the government was working on replacing plastic bags with cloth or paper bags.

Citing a figure from 2014, the minister said under the Punjab Environmental Act 1997, action had been taken against 265 industrial units.

As a result of this, she said, 190 units had installed air-pollution control devices.

A debate between Treasury member Amjad Ali Javed and the parliamentary secretary took up a lot of time.

A variety of issues were taken up by lawmakers on various points of order. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers spoke on the state educational institutions in Rawalpindi, which, they said lacked basic facilities.

Treasury member Sheikh Alauddin raised concerns of businessmen.

He said as many as 10 departments, including the Punjab Revenue Authority, were currently dealing with taxes. He said the federal government’s amnesty of 0.1 per cent on taxes had failed to draw in businessmen with only 200 returns filed.

He urged the chair to set aside a day for general discussion on the subject.

“The greater the tax tariff, the more troubles there will be,” he said.

Leader of Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said Sheikh Alauddin and Zaeem Qadri should lead the ministers for their keen interest in assembly business. The suggestion drew mirth from the lawmakers present.

Rasheed said several cabinet ministers did not come to the assembly sessions.

“[Alauddin and Qadri] are not only present most of the time but are also well informed,” he said.

His comments were lauded by the opposition benches. The chair urged Mehmood to desist from making such remarks.

The issue of allowing television channels to broadcast live the proceedings of the House was also discussed.

Poor quality of single-source live feed was criticised by several lawmakers including the opposition leader. PTI’s Arif Abbasi insisted that the law minister inform the House about the progress made to ensure better coverage of assembly proceedings but his questions were not answered by the minister who was present at the time.

“Electronic media is being kept out of the House? What are you so afraid of?” he asked.

Despite the opposition leader pressing the chair to take up the matter, it was left unresolved.

This agitated Treasury member Sheikh Alauddin who had raised the same issue earlier. “At least make a ruling on it. Say something!” he said.

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