QUETTA, Aug 22: Balochistan Assembly Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar on Saturday referred a privilege motion of a member of the treasury benches to a committee which will discuss the grievances of opposition members about projects in the Public Sector Development Programme.
Shah Zaman Rind of the Pakistan Muslim League, speaking on his privilege motion, alleged that he was not provided tubewells according to the quota and delay in their installation had caused hardships to the people of his constituency.
Opposition leader Kachkol Ali Baloch and Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and Sardar Azam Musakhel of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party also complained about unfair distribution of tubewells and accused Planning and Development Minister Maulana Abdul Wasay of ignoring the opposition members.
Refuting the charges, the minister said tenders had been awarded to a contractor who failed to install tubewells as per the agreement, so the government cancelled the contract and confiscated the security of the contractor.
He said the department had awarded the contract to another contractor. He said the delay had been caused by the negligence of the contractor. He maintained that the tubewells had been distributed fairly.
However, the speaker was not satisfied with the version of the minister and he referred the motion to the committee that would discuss the PSDP to remove the grievances of the opposition. The speaker deferred the written questions for a day as the minister concerned was not present in the house.
The speaker disposed of an adjournment motion of Sardar Musakhel, Naseem Turyala and Rehmat Ali Baloch following assurance by Livestock Minister Mir Qaddus Bizenjo that a summary would be presented before the cabinet to create new posts for veterinary doctors.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mir Abdur Rehman Jamali tabled the Balochistan cotton control (amendment) bill, 2004, and the Balochistan agriculture production markets (amendment) bill, 2004.
Public Health Engineering Minister Maulana Abdul Bari presented the Quetta water sanitation authority bill, 2004. Education Minister Maulana Abdul Wahid Siddique tabled the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University bill, 2004.
The bills were exempted from Section 84 of the assembly's procedure of business. Mr Ziaratwal opposed the exemption and said the bills should be referred to the standing committees.
The speaker said the opposition members had resigned from the committees so there was no need to refer the bills to those. The session was adjourned till Tuesday.
