PA speaker oversees education bill passage

The treasury lawmakers continued general discussion on the annual budget, while the opposition members unanimously passed The Punjab Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill 2020 in parallel Punjab Assembly sessions on Tuesday.

The provincial government held its session at Aiwan-e-Iqbal and the opposition at Punjab Assembly.

The treasury legislators termed the budget pro-people but also demanded more development projects in their constituencies.

The PML-N lawmakers urged the government to keep on priority the education, health, agriculture, irrigation, population and other sectors that, according to them, had been neglected by the PTI regime.

They emphasised that the government should take concrete measures to pull the country out from the current imbroglio. Lashing out at former prime minister Imran Khan, they said PTI’s politics revolved around implicating its opponents in false cases rather than serving the masses.

Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi presided over the session in the assembly building, but after getting unanimously passed The Punjab Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill 2020, he left the chair owing to his engagements. Nawabzada Waseem Khan Badozai from the Panel of Chairmen presided over the proceedings afterwards.

Leader of Opposition Sibtain Khan vowed that the PTI would win the coming by-elections even if they were partly fair.

Former agriculture minister Syed Hussain Jahania Ghardezi and Musarat Jamshed Cheema pinned their hopes on the case in the LHC about the chief minister's election held on April 16.

The session held in the assembly building was adjourned till June 28.

However, the legislators from the treasury benches will continue their budget debate at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Wednesday.

Talking to the media, PTI leader Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said he had advised the party leadership to approach the Supreme Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2022.