Daily Times

The opposition in Punjab Assembly on Monday grilled the government over inflation and skyrocketing prices, while also demanding that the chief minister must seek a vote of confidence from the House as he has lost his mandate to remain in the coveted office.

As per the details, parliamentary leader of PPP Syed Hassan Murtaza said that Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has lost his mandate to remain CM and therefore he must seek a vote of confidence from this august House who elected him as the CM. He was referring to the estranged MPAs of ruling PTI led by Khawaja Daowd Sulemani who openly criticized the policies of Chief Minister of his own party while also threatening the government that they will not vote for the ruling party candidates in the upcoming Senate polls.

Earlier, the session of Punjab Assembly started after a delay of more than two hours from its scheduled time with Panel of Chairman Mian Shafi in the chair. Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun answered the queries of lawmakers related to his department during the question-hour. The House was told during the question-hour that the government had established five universities in the province during the year 2019-20. The universities established during the period include Women University Rawalpindi, University of Mian Wali, University of Chakwal Kohsar, University Muree and Baba Guru Nanak University Nankana. The House also extended four ordinances for another 90 days. These include ‘The Punjab Hotels and Restaurants (Amendment) Ordinance 2020’, ‘The Punjab Tourist Guides (Amendment) Ordinance 2020’, ‘The Punjab Panah Gah Authority Ordinance 2021’ and ‘The King Edward Medical University, Lahore (Amendment) Ordinance 2021’. Later, senior PML-N MPA Samiullah Khan opened the general discussion over price control in which he severely criticized the government over the price hike and inflation. MPA Samiullah Khan said that main reason behind the price hike is increase in petroleum products. He also compared the prices of edible items from the last government of PML-N while showing considerable differences between the prices of both the tenures.

Moreover, parliamentary leader of Pakistan People’s Party Syed Hassan Murza strongly criticized government for not controlling price hike. He also said that government had increased the prices of petrol, gas and electricity many times during two and a half years. He further said that government rejected the resolution regarding fixing the support price of wheat at Rs 2000 per maund which shows that government is not serious in solving the problems of the farmers. The session was later adjourned to meet again on Tuesday afternoon.