Daily Times

Punjab Assembly has approved three bills which included Prevention of Speculation in essential commodities Punjab 2021, South Punjab Institute of Science and Technology Dera Ghazi Khan 2021 and Thal University Bhakkar 2021.

Punjab Assembly session started with one hour and 43 minutes delay with Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the chair here Wednesday. The speaker also constituted a panel of chairmen comprising Mian Muhammad Shafi, Sardar Naseem Khan Badozai, Abdullah Warraich and ShaziaAbid for the current session. The session also observed one minute silence to pay homage to Rajco Industries’ General Manager Piryantha Kumara, a Sri Lankan national, who was killed by workers of the factory in Sialkot a few days back.

Opposition’s MPA Samiullah Khan termed the Sialkot factory incident as a national tragedy and suggested to fix a day to discuss the incident in the house so as to ascertain the causes and motives behind it and that why people are tending towards extremism. This would enable the government to take comprehensive and collective measures to curb this trend effectively, he argued.

Upon this, the speaker asked the Law Minister Raja Basharat to fix a date in this regard during the current session.

The Law Minister said that it is very important issue and government is very much concerned about it and wants to take all possible and solid steps to be taken to prevent it.

Punjab Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja also presented Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2021 and the draft bill of Irrigation Drainage and Rivers Punjab 2021 in Punjab Assembly session and speaker referred both the bills to the relevant standing committee with direction to report within two months. During the Question Hour, the house took up queries about Provincial Communication and Works Department and the relevant Provincial Minister Sardar Asif Nikai responded to answers to the questions of the members. About construction and repair work of various roads, the minister said that work on the respective roads will be undertaken as soon the funds are available.

On a point of order, PML-N MPA MianNaseer said that for the last few weeks, a terrible epidemic in the form of smog has been prevailing in the province especially in Central Punjab and in Lahore, the Air Quality Index (AQI) level surpassed 300 having a very dangerous effect on the life of common man. He asserted that if immediate and effective measures are not taken, the provincial metropolis will not be a city to live in.