LAHORE: Punjab ministers Raja Riaz and Ashraf Sohna from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said on Monday during the 21st session of the Punjab Assembly that the Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has always created hurdles in serving the masses.
It was a routine start of proceeding but just before the question hour session PPP legislator Hassan Murtaza drew the attention of the house over the issue of the exploitation of sugarcane growers by the sugar mill owners. e said that the mill owners were procuring sugarcane from growers at their own price and exploiting the growers by weighing 30 percent less.
He threatened to commit suicide outside the assembly premises if the issue was not resolved by today. Ashraf Sohna said that there was no one to support and protect the poor labourers in the province, however, he promised to visit the area along with secretary labour and submit a report to the house by Wednesday.
Raja Riaz said that PPP is proud of Zulfiqar Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and have full confidence in the leadership of Asif Zardari. PML-N legislator Rana Arshad said that PML-N had great respect for both the ministers and Hasan Murtaza but the issue of labourers’ exploitation at the hands of mill owners had gone to the extent of criticism on PML-N leadership.
Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal said that it was not appropriate for the coalition partners to discuss mutual issues at the assembly floor and suggested that such issues should be discussed in party meetings.
