Punjab Assembly defers private member’s agenda

LAHORE: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab did not address the private members’ resolutions on Tuesday amidst absence of the concerned ministers and the lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The House met for an hour and 38 minutes. The sitting started at 1249 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours. A member of Panel of the Chairperson presided over the entire sitting in the absence of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting. As many as seven MPAs (2%) were present at the outset and 65 (18%) at the adjournment of the sitting. The parliamentary leader of PRHP attended the proceedings. As many as four out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

The House granted two-month extension to the Special Committee No. 2 for presentation of its report in the House. The House deferred three private members’ resolutions due to absence of the relevant ministers or movers

The Minister for Health responded to eight out of 23 Starred Questions while one question was disposed of due to absence of the mover and the remaining 14 were left unaddressed. The lawmakers asked 28 supplementary questions as well.

The House deferred two Adjournment Motions (AM) of PML-N lawmakers regarding posting of Advocate General Punjab, and government policy for potato crop.

The Minister of Law responded to three Zero Hour (ZH) notices raised by PML-N and PPPP lawmakers regarding delay in payment of salaries to sweepers in Tehsil Municipal Committee Jampur and the staff of Municipal Committee Mustafabad, Kasur, and the failure of Waste Management Committee Faisalabad.

As many as 10 lawmakers spoke on Points of Order for 11 minutes. The PML-N lawmakers staged a protest during the proceedings for one minute against the treasury benches for their interruption during a PML-N lawmaker’s Point of Order. The House was adjourned to meet again on April 24, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1100 hours.