LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has convened a session of the House on the requisition of the opposition parties before devising standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the sitting that is likely to last for four days.

The 21st session of the 17th House will commence from Friday (May 8) to discuss coronavirus situation in the province.

The present hall for holding sessions had been built before the Partition to accommodate over 60 legislators of the provincial house. Since its strength was increased to 371 by Gen Musharraf’s regime in 2001, it failed to house such a bigger number of MPAs and authorities had to include a large portion of the visitors’ gallery into it.

But lawmakers rarely grace this portion located on the upper deck saying the chair would seldom notice them whenever they would try to raise any point from there. And, thus they prefer sitting in the main hall leading to overcrowding, which cannot be overlooked now in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

Proposals include cut in members attendance, security staff; panel to decide on SOPs today

An official of the assembly secretariat says that though a notification for requisitioning the session has been issued but SOPs for the sitting to ensure social distancing and taking other precautionary safety measures will be decided on Monday (today) at the house business advisory committee.

Azma Zahid Bukhari, one of the signatories to the requisition and information secretary of the Punjab chapter of the PML-N, says they have submitted some suggestions along with the requisition for summoning the session to make it safer for holding the sitting.

These included reducing attendance of the MPAs to 100 and for the purpose making some groups of legislators both by the ruling alliance’s PTI and PML-Q as well as opposition PML-N and PPP.

She said they also suggested cutting the number of security staff, ensuring wearing of masks and gloves by all, including MPAs, and ensuring hand-sanitisers in and outside the house.

A senior assembly official said that as the new and capacious hall for the house could not be prepared in time contrary to the assurances by the communication & works department, they are considering to hire some other building for holding the forthcoming budget session.

For, he said, the suggestion of forming groups may not be workable for the budget session, in which every lawmaker wishes to participate to represent one’s constituency.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2020