Taking care: PA demands ramps for the disabled at public places

Member walks out over ‘facilitation’ of Ahmadiyya community.

LAHORE:

The Punjab Assembly passed four resolutions on Tuesday. These were related to the construction of ramps for the disabled at government buildings and places of public entertainment, audit of NGOs working for women’s welfare and introduction of a monitoring network for the purchase of cell phones.

Of the five resolutions that were to be presented, four were passed; three of those were approved unanimously.

Syed Waseem Akhtar staged a token walkout for what he termed ‘facilitation’ of the Ahmadiyya community by the Excise and Taxation Department.



During the question hour, the member asked how many organisations had been exempted from property tax on the premise of being welfare organisations.

The department said 95 welfare organisations had been exempted from property tax over the last five years.

No facilitation of any sort should be provided to an organisation belonging to the Ahmadiyya community, Akhtar said.

Parliamentary Secretary for Excise and Taxation Mian Muhammad Munir said the department took decisions in line with the law, and not on the basis of anyone’s religion and faith.

Akhtar then staged a walkout in protest. Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal requested another member to bring Akhtar back. He also referred the matter to the standing committee concerned.

Some lawmakers criticised Prisons Minister Chaudhry Abdul Waheed during questions related to jails.

Waheed said cell-phone jammers had been installed at jails in 14 cities at a cost of Rs330 million.



He said the government had started five technical training courses for prisoners in collaboration with the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA). “The aim is to equip them with skills so that they might earn a living once they were released.”

Issues regarding conjugal rights of prisoners, quality of food being served at jails and their capacity were also taken up.

The minister said prisoners were provided good quality food and purified water. He said work on provision of family rooms was in process. He said five new prisons in Layyah, Pakpattan, Okara, Bhakkar and Sahiwal would be functional in January.

A resolution was unanimously passed for upgrading the Ganj Shakar Special Education Centre in Okara to high school. A resolution related to recording details of cell phones buyers, and phone repairing vendors was also passed.

The speaker announced that discussion on sugarcane pricing would be held on January 2. He said a debate on the Monday’s fire at an Urdu Bazaar plaza and pricing of liquefied petroleum gas would be held next week.

The session was adjourned until Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2014.