LAHORE: In the Punjab Assembly on Friday it was revealed that due to the non availability of dowry, one crore 35 lac (13.5 million) women in the country have not been able to get married.

Minister Ahsan Raza Khan termed dowry as a social curse, stating that India has passed a law according to which demanding and giving dowry is a crime.

Ahsan Raza Khan praised Shehbaz Sharif’s initiative of imposing a ban on one-dish, which has enabled poor girls to get married. He emphasised that a ban should be imposed on dowry and display of wealth, as it was forcing poor people to commit suicide.

Ahsan Raza Khan pointed out that 80 percent of the working class earned only Rs 32,000. He said in such a meager amount it was not possible for them that they should give dowry to their daughters.

Minister for Social Welfare Suhail Shaukat Butt also termed dowry as a social curse, emphasising that revolutionary steps need to be taken against it.

Suhail Shaukat Butt said that his department will introduce a law that will prevent girls from facing issues like dowry.

Punjab Sports Minister Faisal Khokhar while responding to the questions said that the approval and budget allocation for the sports complex in Khanpur Tehsil had been completed, however, due to the unavailability of government land in the area, construction had not yet begun. As soon as the Board of Revenue allocated the land, the work would commence, he added.

In response to a question about how the government will provide schemes in tehsils where government land is not available, Faisal Khokhar said “in areas where government land is not available, we will purchase land and provide sports facilities.”

Opposition member Rana Aftab said “if we identify government land in our constituencies and districts, we will be able to build sports stadiums or gymnasiums over there.”

He announced “in the next three years, 81 schemes will be launched for sports stadiums, and once land is acquired, sports stadiums and gymnasiums will be constructed.”

Faisal Khokhar assured that work would begin as soon as the land was allocated.

Government member Amjad Ali Javed severely criticized the answers given by Sports Minister Faisal Ayub Khokhar, expressing dissatisfaction with the minister’s responses.

The Deputy Speaker directed the Sports Minister to provide a satisfactory answer to Amjad Ali Javed’s questions.

He also praised the Sports Minister in the House that his name would be written in golden letters, saying that those who were a burden on the Sports Department would have to go home.

Faisal Khokhar clearly announced in the House that he was conducting a scrutiny of the Sports Department, and ghost employees would be identified.

To ensure transparency, Faisal Khokhar said they had installed a biometric machine in the Sports Department to detect ghost employees.

He further said after Eid-ul-Fitr, they had started the scrutiny process, and 571 people had already been scrutinized. He said they were giving Rs 32,000 to daily wages employees and paying Rs 40,000 to a computer operator due to their expertise.

Opposition members Rana Shahbaz and Rana Aftab Ahmed expressed their reservations on the Defamation Bill, stating that the report of the Punjab Defamation Bill was obtained from a committee that did not include any opposition members.

Rana Shahbaz demanded that the committee should be reconstituted and the report should be re-obtained, and that the names of opposition members be included in the future with the consultation of the opposition leader. He pointed out that the report obtained from the committee did not have the signatures of its members.

Rana Aftab Ahmed questioned how the bill could be presented in the House for approval without the opposition’s consent, and demanded a ruling on this. He stated that the Speaker was currently absent from Lahore, and when he returned, they would discuss that matter.

He emphasized that it was the Speaker’s responsibility to ensure that the committee was re-scheduled with five members, including three existing ones, and the remaining members would also be included.

Ahmed Khan Bacher warned “if anything goes wrong, it will be the Speaker’s responsibility, and if any wrongdoing occurs, it will be on the Speaker’s shoulders.”

Opposition member Brigadier Mushtaq Ahmed (r) discussed the issue of environmental pollution caused by the cement factory in Chakwal during Zero hour, stating that the cement factory in Tehsil Pind Dad Khan and District Chakwal is harming the aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environment.

He pointed out that the cement factory was causing various diseases due to dust and dirty water, and emphasised that the Punjab Environment Department’s failure to control air pollution had resulted in the factory not meeting quality standards for the past two years. In response, Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman stated that the cement factory about which the opposition member was talking had been closed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024