Daily Times

Members Provincial Assembly (MPAs) rebuked the government on Friday accusing the treasury for giving wrong answers to the queries of lawmakers in the House. During the assembly session, MPAs from both the treasury and opposition benches complained that the government was misguiding the house and skewing the facts.

Pointing out the aftermath of rains, an MPA of PML-N from PP-84 (Khushab) Waris Kallu said that the devastation was of massive level in his constituency due to recent torrential rains but the government is downplaying the damage caused to poor people. He demanded from the Chair Mian Shafi Muhammad to hold an inquiry over wrong answers being submitted in the house. However, minister for Disaster Management Mian Khalid Mehmood told the house that it rained quite lesser during the monsoon season of 2018 and no damage was caused to the crops with only three cows losing their lives in the whole province. He further added that Provincial Disaster Management Authority pays 0.8 million as the compensation amount if someone loses his life due to natural disaster and the amount is given within 24 hours of the tragic incident to heirs.

The falling water level also came under discussion in the house. Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Leghari told the House that Pakistan is among the countries where the water table is decreasing rapidly and the water level in Lahore is recorded at 135 feet. However, the claim of the minister was strongly refuted by PML-N’s Sheikh Alla ud Din who said that the water level in Lahore has been decreased over 290 feet, and the situation demands immediate attention due to the severity of the matter. He also said that wrong answers are being given in this House. In addition, a ruling party’s MPA Uzma Kardar also showed the same concern as she said on a point of order that wrong answer was submitted in response to her adjournment motion and she is not satisfied with the reply.

Pakistan’s water table level decreasing rapidly, irrigation minister told

Meanwhile, during the Question-Hour, an MPA from Gujranwala Ashraf Ali Ansari asked the Irrigation minister to read the complete answer of his question submitted in the house. However, his request was resisted by senior lawmaker Saeed Akbar Niwani, an MPA from Bhakkar, who said that reading the complete answer may waste the precious time of the house and a member should ask supplementary questions only. However, MPA Samiullah Khan countered Nirwani stating that it is the prerogative of every member to ask the minister read the complete answer as the rules of business guarantee him such right. Thereby, the minister read the complete answer in the House.

The norms and rules of procedure also came into discussion. At a point, when Sheikh Alla ud Din of PML-N was speaking, he was rebutted by minister of Industries Mian Aslam Iqbal without taking permission from the Chair. Samiullah Khan once again stood while demanding stern action against those ministers who don’t take the permission from the Chair before speaking. “It has become a practice in the House that some ministers abruptly start speaking without getting the permission from the Chair-that is not a good practice-[T]he ministers are responsible members of this house and therefore they should set an example for other MPAs as well,” added Samiullah. Minister Mohsin Leghari said that there should be a general discussion on Irrigation in the House someday as it was one of the major issues of the province. He invited suggestions over the issue from other members.

Minister for law and parliamentary affairs Raja Basharat also opened the debate over the report of Punjab Public Service Commission for the year 2016 likely to continue in the upcoming session adjourned for Monday afternoon.

Published in Daily Times, January 19^th 2019.