LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly approved with an overwhelming majority 42 demands for grants worth over Rs3,432 billion for the year 2023-24 rejecting all seven cut motions of the opposition on Thursday.

The opposition members protested against dropping their other than seven cut motions, tore down copies of the agenda for the day and resorted to sloganeering.

Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman moved demands for grants one by one which were put to vote by Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan.

The opposition protested and raised slogans when the chair did not allow more than the agreed number of MPAs to express their views on the demands for grants.

The opposition members encircled the dais of the speaker, who directed opposition leader Ahmad Khan Bhachhar and Ijaz Shafi to go to their seats, tone down their language, and not to repeat an issue again and again.

He said as the opposition had given a list of its members who would express their views while tabling cut motions and no new speakers could be added to it because the budget had to be passed at the earliest for taking up the supplementary budget next.

The house also witnessed chaos when Sunni Ittehad Council’s Imtiaz Sheikh taunted some women MPAs elected to the reserved seats as ‘charity seat holders’.

Treasury MPA Khalik Tahir Sindhu objected to the use of words leading to an exchange of hot words between the two MPAs.

Members across the aisle stood up and raised slogans of shame as the opposition MPAs encircled the speaker’s dais.

However, after the approval of the demands for grants, the chair put off the house proceedings for Friday morning.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024