PA unanimously passes resolution in solidarity with journalists
LAHORE: The last sitting of the 32nd session of Punjab Assembly (PA) was marred with traffic congestion at Mall Road as most of the lawmakers could not make it to the assembly building due to the protest and sit-in from the workers of Health Department that was staged in front of the assembly on Monday.
According to the details, there was an adverse traffic gridlock at Mall Road and adjacent arteries throughout the day on Monday that caused severe problems for all the commuters including the members of provincial assembly (MPAs) as most of them couldn’t attend the assembly session because of the traffic mess on the main roads of the metropolitan.
Lawmakers hailing from both the treasury and opposition benches registered the complaint with the Speaker Rana Iqbal Khan regarding the difficulty they faced and demanded an alternate way-out for them in the future to avoid such a situation.
Ruling party lawmaker Bao Akhtar, PPP MPA Faiza Malik and Opposition Leader Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid were among those who complained regarding the worst traffic situation outside the assembly building.
It is worth mentioning here that secretary of Local Government and Community Development of the Punjab government was exempted by the speaker from coming to the house as he was also stuck in the traffic mess. An additional secretary of his department was present there during the Question-Hour that was related to his department. Speaking on a point of order, leader of the opposition Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid said that the government should make special tunnels for the MPAs that may be helpful for them to reach the assembly during the sessions. “There must be two tunnels; one from the GT Road to assembly and another from the motorway to assembly because the government has miserably failed to provide the relief to protesters who make their way on the roads frequently to press for their demands,” opposition leader said sarcastically. MPA Faiza Malik said that a traffic warden stopped her vehicle to move towards the assembly building despite the fact that her vehicle was carrying a special number plate of MPA on it and also got indulged in a heated argument with her. Speaker Rana Iqbal ordered to summon the traffic officials to sort out any workable plan to avoid such a situation for the lawmakers in future. It is pertinent to mention here that hundreds of dengue workers of health department were demanding the regularisation of their contractual job by staging a sit-in outside the Punjab Assembly on Monday that caused severe traffic gridlock.
Questions related to the Local Government and Community Development Department were given by the Parliamentary Secretary Ramzan Siddique Bhatti during the Question-Hour. He told the house that Shehr-e-Khamoshan are being established in other cities as well after Lahore including Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, DG Khan and Sialkot under which model graveyards would be established in these cities to solve the problems of local communities.
The treasury could not take up the government business due to the quorum shortage that was pointed out by an independent lawmaker Ehsan Riaz Fatyana and later the session was prorogued for an indefinite time period.
RESOLUTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH JOURNALISTS:
An out-of-turn joint resolution condemning the recent attacks on journalists was unanimously passed in the house. The resolution was moved by Law And Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan. Earlier in the day, members of Press Gallery staged a token boycott of the assembly proceedings to record their protest against the attack on senior journalist Ahmed Noorani by unknown persons.
