THREE BILLS PASSED IN PUNJAB ASSEMBLY
PUNJAB Chief Minister (CM) Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has issued special directions to all the provincial lawmakers of Punjab Assembly (PA) to attend the assembly sessions as three sittings were marred with the lack of quorum last week. Therefore, the members of treasury benches attended the PA session in droves on Monday which was started after a delay of around two hours under the chair of Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan.
In the government business, three bills were passed in the house with a simple majority. The passed bills were ‘The Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Bill 2016’, ‘The Punjab Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill 2016’ and ‘The Punjab Civilian Victims of Terrorism (Relief and Rehabilitation) Bill 2016’.
It is pertinent to mention here that all the amendments presented by the opposition to the first two bills were rejected by the Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan. The opposition withdrew its amendments to the third bill citing the reason that it was an issue of national importance. “The monster of terrorism has been plaguing this country for long and Pakistan has lost thousands of people due to terrorism. The passed bill of relief and rehabilitation is a step in the right direction by the government,” Leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said while lauding the bill. Sardar Vickas Hassan Mokal, a legislator of Pakistan Muslim League (Q) from district Kasur, said that the bill to eradicate the child labour from brick kilns is a promising legislation, but this bill needs some amendments. “The government must introduce some amendments to this bill for the security of brick kiln owners, as they are being harassed by the labour inspectors and other government officials,” he said. If the government does not take any measure to stop the practice of their harassment, then they will not have any option except to close their business, he added. Earlier in the day, answers were given to the questions of lawmakers related to Mines and Minerals, Environment Protection, and Auqaf and Religious Affairs departments. A woman lawmaker from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Faiza Ahmad Malik did not accept the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary of Auqaf and Religious affairs Saqlain Anwar Sipra. “The Parliamentary Secretary is telling a lie in this august house as he gave us wrong a figure that there are 130 beds for patients in Data Darbar Eye Hospital in Lahore,” she said. According to the Parliamentary Secretary, the hospital consists of 130 beds and it does not receive a single penny from the health department as all the income to run the hospital is generated by the Auqaf and Religious Affairs department.
Moreover, a peace committee was formed comprising of the lawmakers of Punjab Assembly to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) in the province under the chair of Vickas Hassan Mokal. The committee will have the representation from both the treasury and opposition benches and its focus will be on southern Punjab as this region is considered as a hotbed of militancy. The session was adjourned till 10am Tuesday (Today).