Punjab Assembly: Lack of quorum delays debate on sugarcane purchase

Khanzada says govt will register all madrassahs.

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly failed on Friday to take up issues related to sugarcane growers due to a lack of quorum.

There were less than 60 members at the session when the quorum was pointed out. The session this week has witnessed delays on several counts.

Tariq Mehmood Bajwa pointed out the quorum. He said the discussion should be postponed until the session was attended by the number of members needed to debate issues of public importance.

Syed Waseem Akhtar disagreed. He expressed concerns over repeated delays at the House. “We should speak on the issue as per schedule. There is no point in putting public issues on hold.” He said the discussion had earlier been postponed on Wednesday because of a polio awareness session for lawmakers.

Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal said members who had raised the issue as well as the food minister were present. However, Bajwa kept on pointing out the quorum. The number of members remained insufficient although several breaks were taken to allow the quorum to be achieved. The speaker finally adjourned the session till 3pm on Monday.

Earlier, issues related to the Higher Education Department were raised during the question hour. Parliamentary Secretary for Higher Education Mehwish Sultana responded to the questions.

Akhtar said the office of examinations controller at University of the Punjab had been entrusted to a faculty member already holding five other posts. He also asked questions about admissions on a self-finance basis and the revenue generated through them. However, he was informed that the university had stopped granting such admissions since 2009.

Some lawmakers raised questions related to missing facilities at public colleges. Sultana said the government had allocated funds to provide missing facilities at the colleges.

Registration of madrassahs

Home Minister Shuja Khanzada said the government would register madrassahs across the province. He said that not all madrassahs were involved in terrorism. He said the government would take no action against madrassahs working in accordance with the law. He said the government was using intelligence reports to fight terrorism. He said 50 people who were on death row in the Punjab would be executed in line with prevailing rules.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2014.