Sindh Assembly Reminds IRSA to Tackle Land Erosion Issue

ISLAMABAD, April 9, 2018: The Sindh Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on Monday demanding the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to play its role in controlling land erosion in the province, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 39th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 30 minutes.
  •  The sitting started at 1115 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 52 minutes.
  • As many as 56 (33%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 60 (36%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-N and PTI attended the sitting.
  • As many as six minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

  • Senior Provincial Minister introduced the Sindh Holy Quran (Printing, Recording and Disposal of Damaged or Shaheed and Sacred Auraqs) Bill, 2018 before the House.
  • The House unanimously adopted a supplementary government resolution recommending the IRSA to play its due role in controlling land erosion in Sindh. As many as ten lawmakers debated the resolution consuming an hour and one minute.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up three out of four Starred Questions during the Question Hour while one question was deferred. The lawmakers asked 16 supplementary questions as well.
  • The Leader of the Opposition spoke on a matter of public importance regarding electricity load-shedding in Karachi.
  • A PML-F lawmaker withdrew her Adjournment Motion regarding an incident of sexual harassment at the University of Karachi.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • A lawmaker raised a Point of Order consuming five minutes of the proceedings.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 1000 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.

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.