June 30, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 14, 1428

LAHORE, June 29: The treasury benches in the Punjab Assembly on Friday defeated the opposition’s Provincial Motorvehicles (Amendment) Bill 2007 which sought reservation of seats for women in public transport, as the law minister announced beginning of a separate bus service for them in near future.

The bill was moved by MMA’s Syed Ehsanullah Waqas during the private members’ day of the assembly session which was prorogued sine die by Speaker Afzal Sahi. The attendance was thin apparently because of rain.

The mover said it was a duty of the state and society to safeguard the dignity of the women who were facing difficulties while travelling in public transport. The behaviour of drivers, conductors and male passengers with them was generally derogatory, he pointed out, demanding that separate seats should be reserved for women in public transport through legislation and these should not be given to men especially during rush hours.

The Regional Transport Authority should also run special buses for girl students and working women, he suggested.

Transport minister Ghulam Mohyuddin Chishti said the laws relating to the issue did already exist and there was no need to amend the motorvehicles act.

Law Minister Basharat Raja said the federal government had already introduced separate bus service for the women in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and the Punjab government would make such arrangements soon.

Earlier, the speaker kept the question regarding the environment department pending till the next session because of the absence of minister Dr Anjum Amjad who came late. Mr Sahi asked the law minister to request the ministers and parliamentary secretaries to ensure their presence in the house to respond to the queries by the members.

All the departments should be ordered to present updated information about the members’ questions as their incomplete information was creating problems for the ministers as well as the members, the speaker said.

He gave the ruling when treasury member Hafeezullah Khan drew the attention of the house towards the absence of Dr Anjum, saying he had reached the assembly in the heavy rain at 8:54am because his question was important but the minister was not there to reply. Opposition members also supported the member.

Earlier, tourism minister Aslam Iqbal, while replying to a question by MMA’s Dr Wasim Akhtar, said the government had allocated Rs100 million for the upgrade of Lal Sohanra tourist resort during 2007-08.

It had also been decided to set up a 65,000-acre safari park at the resort. An agreement had been signed with an international firm for preparing a feasibility report at an estimated cost of Rs23 million. The cost of the park had been estimated at $117 million, he said.

Replying to another query, sports minister Moeenuddin Qureshi said according to the orders by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz all the district governments were bound to spend two per cent of their total budget on sports activities.

ADJOURNMENT MOTIONS: Replying to an adjournment motion moved by opposition’s Arshad Baggu and Iqbal Channar, law minister Basharat Raja said hundreds of people had been arrested for violating the ban on kite flying, but no one had been punished on charges of murder.

He said the ban on kite flying was being fully enforced, and the police were also investigating the cases registered against the violators.

Mr Baggu quoted Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi as having said that cases would be registered against the DPO and the SHO of the area concerned where anybody’s throat was cut with twine, asking as to how many cases had so far been registered or departmental action taken against them.

The law minister claimed that no such incident had taken place after the imposition of the ban. But he was countered by Mr Baggu who said that on April 30, 2007, four-year old Ayesha fell a victim to stray twine.

Mr Baggu also sought time from the speaker to furnish evidence about the continuity of the incidents that took place after the ban.

The minister said complainants of such cases did not hold anyone responsible for the killing and it was difficult to arrest the real culprits. He, however, pledged that the ban would be enforced strictly.

The speaker asked the minister to direct the police authorities to proceed against the violators. He disposed of the motion, but also advised the mover to furnish the related evidence.

Replying to another motion by Mr Channar regarding the rape of a woman of Bahawalpur allegedly by one Nazar Chabeel alias Nazroo, the law minister said a case had been registered and investigated.

RESOLUTIONS: The assembly unanimously adopted a resolution seeking protection of working journalists, recommending to the federal government to immediately have the 7th Wage Board Award implemented.

The resolution was moved by ruling PML’s Misbah Kokab. It was initially opposed by Arshad Baggu and Sheikh Ijaz (of opposition) who said that it was being moved at a time when the government was not protecting newsmen.

The resolution recommended to the federal government to immediately implement the wage board award, and form the next one in the best interests of the journalist community.

It also demanded law for those working for the electronic media on the pattern of the Newspaper Employees Act of 1973 which governed the journalists of the print media.