Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmmod ur Rashid said that Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not believe in decentralisation of power, adding that transfer of power to the newly-inducted cabinet members of Punjab seems unlikely.
“These provincial ministers will only get a government vehicle carrying national flag and some protocol staff,” he said, while talking to media persons outside the Punjab Assembly on Monday.
He said it was too late to expand the provincial cabinet as three years have been passed since the formation of this house that came into being after the general elections of 2013. He was of the view that the important affairs of the province including law and order and health were on continuous decline for last few years because of too much centralisation of power as the chief minister is himself enjoying portfolios of several ministries.
“The bureaucracy is running the affairs of the province having a population of more than 100 million and ministers do not have any power”, he said.
The house proceedings were marred with the lack of quorum and Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan had to adjourn the house two times for a brief period to call the members but in vain and then he adjourned the house till Tuesday. No call-attention notice could be taken and even the government business could not start as the house was adjourned during the question-answer session due to the lack of quorum that irked the speaker.
“The agriculture policy of the province was to be discussed in the house as decided during the meeting of business advisory council but I have no option but to adjourn the house because of lack of quorum,” the speaker said.
Earlier in the day, answers related to the cooperatives and population welfare departments were given in the house. The session started after the delay of two and a half hours, despite the fact that speaker had warned the members to come to the house in time.
“All the records are broken as the session started after a delay of more than two and a half hours because of the meeting of the cabinet,” leader of the opposition said. He was of the view that leader of the house does not respect the most sacred entity of the province as he preferred to chair the cabinet meeting and did not attend the assembly session.
A token boycott was recorded by the members of press gallery against the decision of PEMRA that has imposed ban on two private news channels and imposed fine on another. Law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said that these TV channels must approach the courts for the uplifting of ban instead of staging protests.
“PEMRA is an independent body and its chairman is an upright person who does not take dictation from any one”, he said. He added that Pakistan Muslim League – N (PML-N) had started the preparations for general election of 2018 and newly inducted cabinet members would work tirelessly for the progress of province.
