Points of order: Lawmakers raise questions but get no response

Aulakh taken to task, Zaidi says members need to be taught to file returns.

LAHORE:

Several questions raised on Friday speaking on points of order went unresponded.

The assembly resumed session at 10:30am. Acting Speaker Rana Mashood presided over the session.

Irrigation Minister Ahmed Ali Aulakh was quizzed about his department and was unable to satisfy the house. The speaker asked him to take action against the officers who not provided the required information. Aulakh assured the house that he would serve a show cause notice on the officer concerned. The speaker also directed the relevant standing committee to take this matter up and inform the house by next Friday.

After the question hour, the speaker allowed Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam’s (PML-Q) Dr Majida Zaidi to speak on a point of order. The doctor criticised a television programme in which lawmakers were accused of evading taxes. She said that lawmakers paid their taxes but television reports only mentioned tax returns. She said there were two ways of paying taxes: deduction at source and filing returns.

She asked the speaker and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif set up an income tax counter at the assembly premises to advise members on filing returns.

Tax lawyers, she added, should be hired as advisors. She said that it was unfair to criticise lawmakers for not filing returns when they actually paid taxes.

The speaker did not respond to this. Neither did Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Mian Rafique, also speaking on a point of order, criticised what he called the house’s poor performance. He said several months ago a special committee of the house had prepared the draft of a bill regarding theft of water from canals. However, he was disappointed that it had not been brought to the house so far.

The MPA demanded that the bill be put up before the house.

PML-Q’s Ahmed Khan Baloch said that he had been demanding an amendment in the Police Order, 2002 for five years. He said currently only the additional inspector general of police was authorised to change the investigation of any case in the province. He said even the district police officer could not take action or change a dishonest investigation officer.

The MPA said people from remote areas of the province were forced to travel to Lahore to change the investigation officer and sometimes it too three months. He urged the house to amend the Police Order, 2002, and to devolve the power of the additional inspector general to the district level.



Again, neither the speaker nor the law minister responded to the suggestions.

PML-N’s Kamal Chughtai, on a point of order, said there was electric power shut down for 18 hours on December 24 due to which the Christian community could not celebrate Christmas in a befitting way.

There was debate on reports of four development authorities under the Punjab Development of Cities Act 1976 for the year 2009 to 2010.

Parliamentary Secretary Zafar Iqbal Nagra presented the annual reports of the Faisalabad Development Authority, the Gujranwala Development Authority, the Multan Development Authority and the Rawalpindi Development Authority. He said that the report of the Parks and Horticulture Authority would be presented later.

PML-N’s Rana Afzal made some recommendations.

He said that the authorities had failed to force the owners of plazas and shops adjacent to major roads to provide parking space. The MPA said that every year authorities promised parking plazas but the plans were not implemented.

He said that the authorities should pursue a public-private partnership policy instead of relying solely on their own funds.

Afzal said that authorities had also failed to stop encroachments and to train engineers in dealing with the drainage and water supply system.

PML-N’s Ejaz Ahmed Khan moved a resolution to demand resumption of the polio vaccination. It was passed unanimously. The house urged the federal government to resume the polio campaign in Karachi, Charsadda and Peshawar and condemned the killing of polio workers. The house also expressed its condolences to the bereaved families of deceased polio workers.

The acting speaker adjourned the session till Monday at 3pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2012.