Daily Times

Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat has said that the marriage halls are likely to reopen under SOPs after Eid ul Azha.

He was responding to the PML-N lawmaker’s query in Punjab Assembly on Tuesday. An MPA of PML-N Muneeb-ul-Haq highlighted the pathetic condition of the marriage hall owners as their business is closed due to COVID-19 for last four months. “The miseries of the people are increasing day by day and it is become difficult for them to survive, it is requested to the government to give exact date of reopening the marriage halls,” PML-N MPA said. Tens of thousands of people are associated with this business and therefore the government must resolve this issue, he said. Raja Basharat said that Minister for Industries Mian Aslam Iqbal is in contact with the representatives of marriage hall association and government is planning to open the marriage halls under SOPs after Eid.

Speaking on a point of order, PMLN’s MPA Kanwal Liaqat said that the government issued a notification to seal those mosques which will neither install CCTV cameras nor hire security guards. She said it will create anarchy if mosques are sealed to which Raja Basharat made clear that the mosques will not be closed by the government.

Earlier, the session of Punjab Assembly started after a delay of around two hours from its scheduled time with Mian Muhammad Shafi in the chair. The questions related to the Food Department were there on the agenda item.

Senior Minister for Food Aleem Khan was there in the House to respond the queries of lawmakers but the Secretary Food was missing in the official gallery-the place allocated for the bureaucracy. PML-N MPA Khalil Tahir Sandhu said that there is a ruling of the chair that question-hour cannot be started in the absence of concerned secretary of the department. He said that the Special Secretary was supposed to come here if Secretary himself is busy in official work. This shows that the bureaucracy isn’t ready to work with them, he said. Food Minister Aleem Khan said that the Secretary Food was scheduled to have a meeting with the Prime Minister over wheat and he was busy in it with his permission. Mian Muhammad Shafi, who was chairing the session, said that this House is the most august house and no other business is more important than it. Mian Shafi directed the assembly secretariat to write a letter to Chief Secretary in this regard. He also adjourned the Question-Hour due to the absence of Secretary Food. Aleem Khan also tendered apology in the House over the absence of his department’s secretary.

Later, some resolutions related to the public interest were also passed in the House. After completion of the agenda, the session was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday afternoon.