Daily Times

LAHORE: All four opposition parties on Thursday staged a protest and shouted slogans in the Punjab Assembly against the government, especially against Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s decision for giving development funds of Rs 200 million each to the ruling party legislators.

During the session, on a point of order, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed stood on his bench and claimed that the Punjab CM had agreed to provide development funds to the tune of Rs 200 million to his MPAs in a meeting held at the Governor’s House a day before, which was a clear violation of the constitution and laws regarding the privileges of the legislators, because the opposition was not accommodated in this regard.

“Shahbaz Sharif had been suggested to give development funds of Rs 350 million for every constituency of his MPAs in the province, but he refused the suggestion and agreed only to provide Rs 200 million for development schemes,” the opposition leader claimed. He further stated that it was tantamount to pre-poll rigging and a political bribe to buy the voters before the upcoming general election. Meanwhile, other members sitting in the opposition benches also stood up and started shouting slogans against the rulers, demanding the government to provide their due right of development funds.

On this occasion, they also pointed out the quorum but the speaker did not notice it, so they started shouting the word “Quorum” repeatedly. Despite such slogans, the speaker continued with his proceedings for around four minutes, during which he completed his targeted agenda to declare the adjournment motions about the Food Department’s negligence disposed of as per rules of the business of the Punjab Assembly.

The speaker then adjourned the session due to lack of quorum and resumed it after an hour. The House adopted the general discussion on issues related to food requirements in the province.

Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin in his speech told the House that his department would constitute food authorities in all 36 districts by the end of this year. He informed the lawmakers that 99 percent of the total amount of sugarcane farmers had been paid. It is worth mentioning that an acerbity was witnessed between PTI member Arif Abasi and the ruling party’s legislators Shahzad Munshi, Malik Naveed, and Tariq Gill. However, some of their fellow lawmakers managed to end the verbal quarrel amicably.

Earlier, the House adopted the question hour about the Literacy & Non-Formal Basic Education and the Environment Protection departments. Minister Dr Farukh Javed and Parliamentary Secretary Akmal Cheema replied to the queries of their departments concerned, respectively.

To a question of Tariq Mehmood, Cheema told the House that the Environment Protection Department had no development funds, as it was just like a regulatory authority that could only advise the government on any development.

To queries about the non-formal education sector, Dr Farukh admitted that the law of minimum wages of Rs 14,000 per month for every labourer and worker was being violated, and said that his department was paying low salaries of about Rs 6,000 per month to teachers, as they were part timers. However, he was of the view that they would increase the salaries in the upcoming projects. After completing the agenda of the day, the chair prorogued the session for an indefinite period.