KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly has passed six bills and adopted 21 resolutions during its 36th session that included 15 sittings held between November 1 and November 23, according to a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report.
The house addressed 34 Calling Attention Notices (CANs) and debated an adjournment motion regarding results of Population and Housing Census, 2017, during the reporting session. As many as 13 private motions for discussions on issues of public importance and eight motions to amend the Rules of Procedure of the Sindh Assembly, 2013 were not considered by the house.
The provincial assembly passed six out of seven treasury-sponsored legislative proposals that appeared on the agenda during the session. The approved legislative proposals included Sindh Safe Blood Transfusion Bill, 2017, Sindh Occupational Safety and Health Bill, 2017, Sindh Livestock Registration and Trade Authority Bill, 2017, Sindh Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2017, Shahdadpur Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2017, and Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
The government also introduced the Institute of Animals Health Karachi Bill, 2017 in the house which was referred to the relevant standing committee. Three private members belonging to Pakistan People’s Party-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) introduced the Sindh Prohibition on Manufacture, Promotion and Sale of Gutka and Mainpuri Bill, 2017, University of Art and Culture, Jamshoro Bill, 2017 and Pakistan University Karachi Bill, 2017, which were also referred to the relevant standing committees.
The assembly’s regular business included 15 resolutions of which ten were adopted, four were not taken up and one was referred to the relevant committee. Additionally, the house adopted eleven supplementary resolutions as well which were not part of the regular agenda, while one supplementary resolution was referred to the relevant committee.
The adopted resolutions recommended the government to lift ban on student unions, appoint lady teachers in primary schools, begin sugarcane crushing in the province as soon as possible, grant 90-day maternity leave to working women, encourage establishment of industries, ensure installation of gates at railway-crossings, take steps against unannounced electricity and gas load-shedding in Sukkur, establish trade zones in all major cities of the province, donate funds for Muslim refugees of Myanmar in Bangladesh, and take immediate action against electricity over-billing in Hyderabad.
The house, through different resolutions, also recommended the provincial government to take up the issues of zakat fund, recent increase in petroleum prices, dispute among students’ groups at Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad and registration of around 13 million women on electoral rolls with the federal government.
It also adopted resolutions condemning the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) policies in Sindh, the statement of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leadership for demanding early general elections and the statement of a federal minister regarding Kalabagh Dam.
The resolutions also paid tribute to great Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, national poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the services of World Science Community, especially women in connection with the World Science Day, and the Sindhi writer and philosopher Muhamad Ibrahim Joyo. The house also offered condolences on the loss of lives in Iran-Iraq earthquake in a resolution.
