Daily Times

The demand to establish southern Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces was once again raised in the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday.

As per the details, the PML-N MPA from southern Punjab and former federal minister Sardar Awais Khan Laghari said that the government must fulfil its promise of establishing the southern Punjab province while also demanding a debate in the House on the subject. “It seems that the government has abandoned the idea of establishing the southern Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces as it has just said that they don’t have required majority in the Senate and National Assembly to do the legislation on it,” said Awais Laghari, while speaking on the point of order. He was referring to the statement of Punjab Information Minister Feyyaz ul Hassan Chohan in which he said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has abandoned the idea of making southern Punjab province.

Laghari, an MPA from DG Khan also requested the speaker to allocate time for debate in the House on establishing the southern Punjab province. The PML-N has submitted bills demanding the southern Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces and government should pass these bills immediately keeping in view the demand of the people, Awais Laghari said. Responding to Laghari, PTI’s Parliamentary Secretary Sardar Shahab ud Din, who is also an MPA from the southern Punjab’s district of Layyah, said that the government isn’t in the position to do the legislation on the subject right now. He mocked at the PML-N and said that the ‘Takht-e-Lahore’ is doing politics today in the name of southern Punjab.

Earlier, the session of Punjab Assembly started after a delay of more than one hour from its scheduled time of 3 PM in the evening with Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the chair. Answers related to the Services and General Administration department were given by law minister Raja Basharat in the House during the question-hour. He said that six billion rupees were spent on security and allowances of employees of the Chief Minister House and camp offices during 2013 to 2018. While responding to a question of PTI MPA Musarrat Jamshed Cheema regarding expenses of Chief Minister House and camp offices, Raja Basharat said that legally only one site can be given the status of a camp office.

Speaking on a point of order, an independent MPA Jugnu Mohsin said that the fuel used in the vehicles is the basic reason of pollution in Punjab. She also said the government should introduce Euro-6 fuel in order to control smog and pollution in the province. During the government business, the treasury managed to pass The Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2019, The Punjab Probation and Parole Service Bill 2019 and The Punjab Village Panchayats and Neighbourhood Councils (Amendment) Bill 2019 amid the absence of the opposition that staged a walkout from the House. PML-N’s MPA Waris Kallu tried to move some amendments in the Local Government bill but in vain as the Law Minister said that the opposition didn’t submit the amendments within the due time. The opposition walked out from the House in protest as their amendments were not entertained in the bills. The session was later adjourned to meet again on Thursday at 3pm.