LAHORE: Annoyed at the government for withholding funds for the Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Monday threatened the ‘unruly’ treasury members with putting off the session if they continued creating chaos in the house.

“Today, [five] ordinances are going to lapse. And if you do not stop creating mayhem I’ll prorogue the session, leaving all the official business incomplete,” he announced.

With the treasury members interrupting the proceedings in response to the opposition’s anti-government sloganeering, the speaker told them to “let me handle the opposition”.

He was displeased with the non-release of funds approved by the house for public welfare projects. Expressing annoyance, he said that the budget for the Wazirabad institute was not issued for the last six months despite it being duly approved by the assembly.

Parvez annoyed that budget for Wazirabad hospital not issued despite being approved by house

“What is the use of this house if its decisions are not implemented by the government? Isn’t it better to shut it down if you are not interested in implementing its decisions?” he asked.

He said the finance department was a major hindrance to implementing public welfare projects. He lamented that he had also talked to the chief minister regarding the issue, but the matter was still unresolved.

The Wazirabad hospital had been built when Parvez Elahi was the chief minister from 2002-07, but both the succeeding PML-N governments kept the project stalled, and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has also put it on the backburner by not releasing funds for it.

Later, the house extended the Punjab Sugar Factories (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, Punjab LocalGovernment (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, Companies Profits (Workers’ Participation) (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, and the Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission Ordinance 2020.

The resolution for extending the ordinances for 90 days was presented by Law Minister Raja Basharat.

The South Punjab Institute of Science and Technology, Dera Ghazi Khan; The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill 2020; The Punjab Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2020; and The Punjab Privatisation Board (Repeal) Bill 2020 were also introduced.

The Punjab Assembly session started with a delay of more than two and half hours from its scheduled time. Minister Ansar Majeed Niazi answered questions related to the labour department.

The session was later adjourned for Tuesday afternoon (today).

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020