LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday laid five ordinances before the house and introduced four bills, including The University of Home Economics Lahore Bill 2016, which were referred to the respective standing committees for discussion and submission of reports within two months.

The treasury laid The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance 2016, The Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2016, The Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Ordinance 2016, The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 and The Punjab Local Government (Third Amendment) Ordinance 2016 before the house.

The bills introduced in the house are: The Infrastructure Development Authority of the Punjab (Amendment) Bill 2016, The Parks and Horticulture Authority (Amendment) Bill 2016, The University of Home Economics Lahore Bill 2016 and The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016.

Later in the zero hour, Opposition Leader Mahmoodur Rasheed took up the matter of calling session on August 22, instead of August 4, as decided in the assembly calendar and asserted that the treasury should either not finalise dates or adhere to its decisions. He said the members had made up their mind for August 4 and had cancelled all their engagements for the day but were informed at the eleventh hour by the assembly secretary that the session had been delayed.

Speaker Rana Iqbal chided the opposition leader for not raising this issue in the Business Advisory Committee or on August 22, the first day of the session. He said that he too had to reschedule his engagements for the day.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the Independence Day celebrations started in the first week of August and many members informed the assembly that they were busy, which prompted the authorities to delay the session.

Meanwhile, PML-N’s Allauddin Sheikh pointed out LDA’s commercialisation policy and the construction of a school in Gulberg-II that caused long traffic jams.

The speaker announced constituting a committee comprising all stakeholders and sought a report to be presented in the house within a fortnight.

While the speaker wanted to take-up other business of the house, MPA Ahsan Riaz Fatiana pointed out the quorum for the second time. The quorum could not be completed despite ringing of bells for five minutes. At this, the speaker adjourned the session till 10am on Thursday (today).

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2016