ISLAMABAD, February 10, 2016: The Punjab Assembly held discussion on agricultural issues and grievances of sugar-cane growers on Wednesday during ninth sitting of its 19^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 32 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1116 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 56 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceeding.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 38 minutes.
• 20 MPAs (5%) were present at outset and 10 (3%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI and PPPP were present.
• Only one minority member was present.

Output

• The House granted one year’s extension to Public Accounts Committee – I (PAC-I) for presentation of its report.
• The Assembly did not take up two government bills appearing on its List of Business.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The government orally responded to nine out of 40 starred questions appearing on agenda while four questions were disposed of due to absence of relevant members. The lawmakers also asked 17 supplementary questions. The House did not take up rest of the questions due to lack of time.
• The government answered two adjournment motions regarding spread of diphtheria and delay in completion of Burn Centre in Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Two adjournment motions were deferred as well.
• Thirteen lawmakers discussed the issues related to agriculture and grievances of sugar-cane growers. The discussion consumed 91 minutes of the proceeding.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on three points of order consuming four minutes of the proceeding.
• A lawmaker belonging to treasury party walked out in protest at 1140 hours when the government refused to assure him of time-bound provision of equipment to Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology. He did not return to the House till the adjournment of the sitting.
• Later, the entire Opposition also staged walkout at 1216 hours against prospective utilization of health budget for Orange Train project. They returned to the House at 1259 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

To download the factsheet, click here for English version – click here for Urdu version

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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.