In session: Temporary residents bill passed amidst walkout

Three bills could not be passed due to lack of quorum .

LAHORE:

Punjab Assembly on Wednesday passed the Information of Temporary Residents Bill with members of the opposition walking out to protest against the speaker for ignoring as many as eight proposed amendments and motions.

The Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Bill, the Punjab Arms (Amendment) Bill and the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill were left over after the session was adjourned due to lack of quorum. They will be taken up at the next session.



The Punjab Information of Temporary Residents Act 2015 calls for sharing information of tenants and temporary residents with law enforcement agencies to combat crime and terrorism through formulation of a database. Information collected by police would be used to maintain a database of tenants and guests.

MPA Ehsan Riaz Fatyana tore up the agenda after Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani ignored repeated demands from the opposition benches to send the bill to the standing committee for further deliberations.

MPAs Khadija Umar and Qazi Ahmad Saeed also expressed reservations over the chair ignoring the opposition. Jamaat-i-Islami’s Syed Waseem Akhtar alone remained on the floor of the House to oppose several clauses of the legislation.

Akhtar said the standing committee had not made any amendments to the draft. “It is not necessary that everything the minister states on the floor of the House be endorsed by the chair as well,” he said.

Amjad Ali Javed submitted a privilege motion regarding failure of the Housing Department to submit accurate replies in response to a query posed by him in February. The issue of a journalist alleging that lawmakers from south Punjab were selling their votes for Senate elections on a TV channel was also brought up in the session on Sardar Javed Akhtar’s privilege motion. He said there were 100 lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly who hailed from the south and such comments were derogatory. Kalabagh Dam came under discussion during the questions session. Akhtar asked Parliamentary Secretary for Irrigation Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood Jajja about steps being taken for the project.

Akhtar said the project was vital for the economy, resolving the energy crisis and preventing floods. Jajja replied that it was an important issue. He said it had been pending in the Council of Common Interests since 1998.

He said if the project was approved now, it would take another six years to complete it.

Jajja said the Jamaat-i-Islami was an ally of the provincial government in KP. He said it should first get a resolution supporting the project passed from there.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2015.