Punjab Assembly: Alauddin worried about what people eat

Says no room in city’s culture for Food Street.

LAHORE:

The Punjab Assembly (PA), on Wednesday, began its pre-budget debate. Three motions were tabled and voices were raised against ‘babus’ (bureaucrats).

The assembly, chaired by Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal, started at 11:47 am instead of its scheduled time (10 am).

Finance Minister Kamran Michael answered questions about the Social Welfare and Women Development Department, which has been assigned to him.

Adjournment motions

Unification Bloc leader Sheikh Alauddin put forward his resolutions.

The MPA, in his first motion, criticised the new Food Street and demanded that such ‘activities’ be curtailed. According to his motion, load shedding, double digit inflation, unemployment and poverty remained unsolved problems yet another food street had been established at a heavy cost.

Alauddin said the ‘ordinary’ man, whose monthly income was around Rs10,000 and who had at least two children, could not afford to eat at this street. He said Lahore was divided into classes, the Defence, Gulberg, Model Town and Cantt class was different from the class of people residing in Mazang, Shadbagh, Dharampura and Lohari.

He said the food on Food Street was sold at half price after midnight and played havoc with the public’s health. He said there had been an increase in cardiac attacks due to changes in diet.

He said Lahore’s original culture was to share food.

The MPA’s second motion was regarding the use of fake judicial papers. He said certain housing societies were now known for this practice which was causing a loss of revenue for the government.

Alauddin’s third motion said the federal government should abolish the priority right rule, under which a province had priority right to use the amount of electricity it generated.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said the motions would remain pending.

Babus

PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader Shaukat Mehmood Basra, rising on a point of order, lashed out at the living standards of bureaucrats. He said that the staff of DCOs and DPOs was still wearing caps and gloves which reminded one of the Mughal era. He said that an MPA’s living was simple while babus use four to five vehicles and unlimited fuel. He said this was a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Basra said that even retired bureaucrats used wasteful vehicles and added that retired High Court chief justice Khawaja Sharif was still living in GOR I. He demanded that their offices be simple and their excessive perks and privileges be withdrawn.

PML-N MPA Dr Ashraf Chohan seconded him and demanded that the bureaucracy be made more accountable. Sanaullah said Basra’s information would be looked into and an inquiry report would be presented. However, he said, many bureaucrats were performing their duties properly. Basra said politicians were being maligned while babus were being protected.

Pre-budget debate

PPP MPA Ehsanul Haq Naulatia said the Punjab government needed to improve its tax collection system. He said the government only collected 20 per cent while 80 per cent was lost to corruption. He said the fake registry of property was another loss of revenue. He added that WASA would not be able to recover Rs700 million from the public as 95 per cent of the public would not pay. He blamed poor tax collection on bad governance.

He said the Punjab government had posted incompetent officers as DCOs. He said legislation should now be done carefully and claimed that last time the government had amended the PLGO 2001 only to accommodate the Lahore DCO. The speaker, on the suggestion of PPP Parliamentary Leader Zulfiqar Gondal extended the time period for pre-budget debate till Thursday, next week. The session was adjourned at 3:30 pm till Thursday 10 am.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2012.