LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has summoned the Faisalabad deputy commissioner for not taking his (the speaker’s) phone call.

Soon after proceedings of the house resumed after a two-day break here on Monday, the speaker said the Faisalabad DC was not listening to anyone, including him (Mr Elahi), and was making false excuses, saying he (the DC) was in a meeting, while actually being present at his house.

He gave the ruling that the DC should appear before the house on Tuesday (tomorrow) to explain his position.

The speaker said a Rescue 1122 station worth Rs100 million would be built in Faisalabad and the agency’s director-general wrote to the DC in this respect, but the latter ignored the letter.

“When the DC was contacted on cell phone, the call was attended by his guard, who said his boss was in a meeting, while the latter was at his house at that time,” the speaker said, adding the officer was not listening even to the provincial minister (who holds the charge of S&GAD).

He said that he had summoned both the Faisalabad DC and Rescue 1122 in charge Ehtesham before the house on Tuesday (March 9).

Supporting the action of the chair, PML-N legislator Khalil Tahir Sandhu condemned the attitude of the DC, saying Mr Elahi had served as the deputy prime minister as well as the chief minister (of Punjab) in the past, regretting that a BS-18 officer was not ready to take his call.

Meanwhile, PML-N MPA-elect from Wazirabad Talat Mahmmod Shaukat took oath as a member of the house.

The government laid the audit reports for the year 2020-21 of Irrigation, Communication and Works, Urban Development, Public Health Engineering, Local Government, Energy and other departments as the proceedings were put off for Tuesday afternoon.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2021