August 28, 2008	Thursday	Sha'aban 25, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 27: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday assured the Assembly that the government was well aware of price-hike and would adopt measures to check its rising trend.

He also re-assured the house that Kalabagh Dam had been permanently shelved and appealed to the people not to be misled by political statements.

Regarding OPS (Own-pay-and-scale) and contract officers employed after retirement, the chief minister recalled that the decision had been taken by the cabinet in its first meeting in the interest of good governance and it was implemented 80 per cent as in the decision there was a provision for exceptional cases in the police and revenue departments and hardship cases.

These assurances were given on the floor of the house in response to an adjournment motion of Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the NPP regarding soaring prices, and on a point of order raised by Heer Sohu of the MQM and Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Jam Madad Ali who had sought clarification on press reports of Kalabagh Dam quoting Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.

The adjournment motion was ruled out of order on technical grounds by Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro after a discussion of half an hour over its admissibility by its mover and Minister of Bureau of Supply & Price Syed Shoaib Bokhari.

On Wednesday, which was a private members day in lieu of Tuesday, the house failed to take up any of the five resolutions or the five motions which were on the order of day.

Deputy speaker Shela Raza, who presided over the session since its beginning, deferred the leave application of former Sindh chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim after the house refused to grant him leave with a loud voice of “No”.

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Jam Madad Ali drew the attention of the house towards his meeting with Chief minister Qaim Ali Shah in this regard and pleaded to the house to grant Dr Rahim leave for the session as it was his first leave application and assured that he might be attending the next session. “Your party (PPP) is a democratic party and as such his leave may be granted,” he said.

Law Minister Ayaz Soomro asked the chair to defer the decision till the next session to find a solution after consultation with “Jam sahib” and Syed Sardar Ahmad.

He also said: “We are democratic people and it would be better if Arbab Rahim attends the session.”

Before adjourning the session at 1.40pm to Friday after ruling out the adjournment motion under Rule 71 and 73(4), the chief minister in his brief statement appreciated the concern of the member. However, he pointed out that the motion was not maintainable as it was hit by Rule 71(A) and 73.

Mr Bokhari, opposing admissibility of the motion, said that the dearness issue which started from 1953 had never been reversed and as such would require considerable debate.

He also pointed out that a price list of essential commodities was being notified by the city and district governments daily. Under the SLGO, the subject was transferred to the enterprises and investment promotion department and magisterial powers were given to DCOs and DDOs . However, the government had reintroduced the bureau of supply and prices and had set up a provincial price control committee to check prices.

He said he had made it clear to traders, importers, wholesale dealers and retailers that severe action would be taken against profiteering and hoarding.

He said delay in the enforcement of a price control system was because of the non-existence of the bureau of supply and prices as it had been abolished on March 16, 2002 but after its restoration it had started work formally.

The motion, which was moved under Rule 71 by Mr Jatoi, reads:

“This assembly demands that the Sindh Government immediately notify the price list for essential commodities for the holy month of Ramazan to prevent any further profiteering and control inflation which is currently high at 25 per cent.”

Speaking on its admissibility, Mr Jatoi said that if his adjournment motion was not admissible, the speaker had the power to disallow it in his chamber under Rule 75-A if in his opinion it was in contravention of any of the clauses of Rule 73 and as such it was on the order of the day, no further discussion was possible on its admissibility.

In the point of orders seeking clarification from the chief minister, Ms Heer Sohu and Jam Madad Ali asked the chief minister about press reports quoting Raja Pervez Ashraf regarding Kalabagh Dam which were cause for concern to the masses. Ms Sohu said if the newspaper had misquoted the statement of the minister, action should be initiated against the newspaper.

Nusrat Abbasi of PML-F spoke about the victimisation of their party members and said one of their colleagues in Ahmadpur died from police torture and now his relatives were being threatened and asked not to pursue the case.

She said that Jam sahib had earlier provided the long list of party workers who had been implicated in false cases.

Law Minister Ayaz Soomro said that the list was being investigated and her complaint was noted by the additional law secretary.

On the point of order of committing excesses with minority Hindu people in a temple in Ghotki, Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza assured the house that those involved would be taken to task.