In session: ‘Why does the CM never visit the Assembly?’

Opposition leader moves resolution against chief minister

LAHORE: A resolution was submitted in the Provincial Assembly on Friday against the chief minister over his constant absence from the House.

Leader of Opposition Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed submitted the resolution to the assembly secretariat.

The resolution states that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has not participated in the provincial assembly sessions for a long time. The resolution says his absence has affected the performance of the House.

Rasheed said most government employees had been caught accepting bribes according to data compiled by FAFEN. He said 332 government servants in Health, Education and Irrigation Departments had been caught taking bribes. He also submitted an adjournment motion for a debate on the issue.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the FAFEN report was not authentic. He said the House could debate the issue on Wednesday.

During the question hour, Parliamentary Secretary for Home Ijaz Achlana informed the House that the Punjab Highway Patrol had approved 552 new patrolling posts in the province. He said 340 of those had been made functional. The House was informed that Rescue 1122 operations had being extended to 31 more tehsils in the province. Speaking on a point of order, the leader of the opposition presented a letter written by Umar Baloch, a former medical superintendent of Services Hospital, to the health secretary.

The letter said that a deputy secretary from chief minister’s office had visited him with a list of 100 people to be appointed at the hospital.

“The MS refused to oblige such unlawful appointments. The chief minister’s office then wrote to the Anti-Corruption Department to hold an inquiry against him for embezzling hospital funds. This matter should be probed and the doctor should not be victimised for his principled stance,” he said.

The law minister said since 2008, all appointments in the Punjab had been made on merit.

He said Baloch was due for retirement and had created this issue deliberately. He requested the Speaker to refer the case to a parliamentary committee which should submit a report after an inquiry.

The Speaker referred the matter to the Standing Committee on Health and asked it to submit report in 15 days.

The debate on the performance of Parks and Horticulture Authority could not be taken up for the second consecutive day. When the government business started, PTI’s Shunila Ruth pointed out the lack of quorum. The session was then adjourned till Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2016.