Depleting fast: MPAs in agreement over talks on water levels

Matter gets sidetracked when chairman says minister will set date for discussion

LAHORE: Although all lawmakers, including the panel chairman presiding over the house, were in agreement to hold a one-day discussion on the alarming underground water deficiency, the talks soon got sidetracked in Friday’s Punjab Assembly session.

The legislators spent more than 30 minutes discussing the deficiency of water in their areas. They reached a consensus that there should be a general discussion on this sensitive issue. However, panel chairman Mian Shafi Muhammad’s statement that the law minister would decide the day for the discussion threw a spanner in the works.

MPAs of both sides said it was the job of the panel chairman, who was presiding over the house, to pass a ruling for general discussions rather than law minister Raja Basharat. They said that since Shafi was presiding over the house, he should pass a ruling on which day to hold the discussion. However, their efforts bore no fruit.

During the question-answer session, minister Sardar Mohsin Laghari said Pakistan falls in the list of countries where the water table was decreasing rapidly. “We are still on the same irrigation system that has been used since ancient times,” he said.  The minister added no new techniques had been introduced through which water could be saved.

PPP’s Hassan Murtaza, PMLN’s Waris Shad, Chaudhary Mazhar Iqbal, PTI’s Saeed Akbar Khan and others shed light over the water deficiency. They asked the minister about the government’s policies and the measures being taken to preserve water.

“We have no empathy when it comes to extracting water. We also have limited water reserves and need to adopt proper techniques for irrigation rather than crudely extracting it,” the minister said. “We install tube wells and start extracting water without even bothering how much levels have decreased.”

PTI’s Saaed Akbar asked the minister if the provincial government had devised any policy through which the limited amount of water could be used to gain maximum irrigation results. The minister replied by saying the agriculture department was working on the matter. He pointed out that farmers had been given sprinklers, drip irrigation equipment and other utilities at subsidised rates.

House proceedings started at 11:00am despite a scheduled time of 9am. Panel Chairman Mian Shafi Muhammad presided over the House. PML-N’s Rana Mannan Khan, on a point of order, asked the chairman under which law ministers, whose membership has been suspended by the Election Commission for not submitting asset declarations, were holding meetings of their concerned departments. At first Shafi was silent, but later replied “as members, they cannot function”.

PML-N’s Samiullah also expressed dismay over the conduct of ministers. According to him, these elected officials were not following the decorum of the house. He said ministers directly addressed lawmakers rather than addressing the chair. He said some ministers did not even stand up before speaking and remained seated. Minister for Prosecution Chaudhry Zaheeruddin defended the ministers saying PML-N had launched a propaganda against PTI’s ministers.

PTI legislator Zainab Umair, in her speech on the discussion over the annual report of the Punjab Public Service Commission for the year 2016, gave her proposals. She said doctors and engineers should be restrained from participation in public service commission exams. The MPA said most of the competent doctors and engineers participated and joined other departments like the police or other sector. She added that as a result, they ignored their actual field of expertise for which they had academic degrees. Finally, the panel chairman adjourned house proceedings till 3pm on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2019.