Treasury and opposition benches: Members show displeasure over absence of LG officials in Punjab PA

LAHORE: Members of both treasury and opposition benches showed their displeasure over the absence of local government officials during the question hour on Local Government in Punjab Assembly on Monday.

Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Makhdoom Usman Mahmood said that there should be a timeline for giving answers to the questions submitted by members of the Punjab Assembly.

Parliamentary Secretary, Local Government Ahmed Khan Buchhar agreed with Usman Mahmood and said that speaker ruling was already there in this regard.

The session started one hour fifty-three minutes late under the chairman Panel of Chair Mian Shafi Muhammad.

Chairman Panel of Chair Mian Shafi Muhammad took notice of the absence of Secretary Local Government.

Law Minister Raja Bashart assured the house that strict action would be taken against the secretary Local Government over his absence in the house during the question hour.

Speaking during the zero hour Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Uzma Kardar pointed out that sale and purchase of drugs were openly going on in the city. She also said that drugs were openly available to the students. She said that government should take strict action against those who were involved in the drug business.

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat, while responding to Uzma Kardar said that anti-drug campaign in the province is going on in the province successfully.

He also said that the complaints regarding sale of alcohol, ice, heroin, hashish and other drugs are valid and this issue had become a menace of society.

However, he said, during the last six months, 7,926 cases were registered against drug sellers and challans of 7,600 cases were filed in the courts. He further said that 114 kg of heroin, four kg of ice, 740 liters of liquor, and more than two thousand other drugs were destroyed.

He said that PTI government was taking action on a priority basis to make educational institutions drug free. He said that 174 cases had been registered against drug dealers outside educational institutions.

The Law minister said that the “Sheesha” was banned whereas hundreds of cases had been registered for its prevention as well as effective actions were also being taken against the perpetrators involved in the business of Sheesha secretly.

The Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution presented by PML (Q) MPA Khadija Umar in which she demanded that the federal government should approach Google and Wikipedia administration and asked them that they should remove wrong information from the website regarding our Caliphs.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021