LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly finally passed the Punjab Emergency Services (Amendment) Bill 2021 moved by a private member here on Tuesday as Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi put his foot down and ruled out objections by the law minister.

The bill makes the Rescue 1122 an independent entity, granting its director general the powers of a provincial secretary.

It also prescribes posting of emergency officers at divisional and district levels, promoting the employees to next grades on the basis of their past performance, physical fitness and completing promotion course(s).

Under the amended law, the provincial law minister can convene a meeting of the Punjab Emergency Council.

The bill had earlier been taken up in the last private members’ day (on Feb 23). But Law Minister Basharat Raja had then opposed it arguing that no private member can move a bill that involves finances of the provincial government.

He, however, had promised to come up with a similar bill of the government in the next session that began last Thursday. The minister didn’t keep his word and argued that the document needed to be approved by the provincial cabinet, requiring more time. An irritated speaker, who had instituted the Rescue 1122 during his term as the chief minister (2002-07) and wished to further improve the emergency services without delay, re-included the private member’s bill in the agenda for Tuesday using his power. The house unanimously passed the bill as no cabinet member including the law minister dared oppose the move.

Khadija Umar, MPA of Mr Elahi’s PML-Q, which is a coalition partner of the ruling PTI, had moved the bill in the previous session for the purpose.

Speaking after the passage of the bill, Mr Elahi eulogised the development as a landmark step as the entity got the status of an independent institution, while it would now be able to frame a service structure for the rescue officers.

The house also passed the Punjab Transparency & Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2021, moved by treasury member Mian Shafi Muhammad and the Times Institute Multan (Amendment) Bill, 2021, tabled by Nawabzada Waseem Khan Badozai.

The speaker later attended a dinner held for PML-Q’s Senator-elect Kamil Ali Agha by PTI Minister Chaudhry Zaheeruddin.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2021