ISLAMABAD, March 06, 2018: The Punjab Assembly adopted two private members’ resolutions on Tuesday recommending the government to construct new water reservoirs and grant housing rights to slum dwellers of Lahore, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 22^nd sitting of the 34^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1111 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 45 minutes.
• As many as 25 MPAs (7%) were present at outset and 20 (5%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI was present during the proceedings.
• As many as six minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House adopted two private members’ resolutions recommending the government to construct new water reservoirs and grant housing rights to the dwellers of Katchi Abadis notified by Lahore Development Authority (LDA).
• The House granted two-month extension to the Committee on Privileges to present its report.
• The House did not take up two resolutions due to the lack of quorum.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as two out of 10 Starred Questions were answered during the proceedings while the seven questions were deferred and one was disposed of due to absence of the concerned lawmakers. The lawmakers asked two supplementary questions as well.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 26 Points of Order consuming 32 minutes of the proceedings.
• The opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from the proceedings at 1228 hours against the recent increase in the petroleum prices. The Chair did not allow the protesting lawmakers to table a resolution against the increase.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1228 hours that led to the adjournment of the sitting.
• The House was adjourned to meet again at 1000 hours on Wednesday, March 7, 2018.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

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.