Daily Times

LAHORE: Both the treasury and opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly jointly stood against bureaucrats for not appearing before the House during the session.

Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Khalil Tahir Sindhu backed opposition member Asif Mehmood when the latter pointed out the non-seriousness attitude and absence of the Labour Department secretary, demanding the chair to take stern action against bureaucrats.

Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani, while chairing Thursday’s session, took the matter seriously, saying that it was not good to considered the proceedings of the supreme institute of the province “non-serious”.

Gorchani, while declaring the attitude of the bureaucracy toward Punjab Assembly unbearable, advised his administration to write a letter of displeasure to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on the matter.

He also advised the parliamentary secretary for Labour Department to call the secretary and the commissioner for a meeting in his chamber today (Friday) to explain their absence.

Earlier, during the question hour, Asif Mehmood pointed out the absence of the labour secretary and urged the chair to keep the question pending, as such a practice was worthless. Sindhu also supported his point and urged the chair to take action

Anyhow, when Parliamentary Secretary Mian Naveed Ali was asked about the absence of both the high officials of the department, he tried to save their skin by saying, “She (secretary) is newly appointed”. However, the chair did not agree with his argument and called the officers for a meeting today.

It is worth mentioning that provincial legislators of both the treasury and opposition benches have already pointed out the lack of interest and devaluating acts of the bureaucracy to pinch the House several times. Interestingly, the chair has been issuing warnings to bureaucrats, but all those warnings apparently fell on deaf ears.