ISLAMABAD: Assembly secretariat records show that the National Assembly was adjourned without any agenda item on Monday due to lack of quorum for the third consecutive day as MPs have made it a habit to leave the Parliament building after marking their presence. ,
As soon as Speaker Asad Qaiser announced the launch of Question Hour, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Rahimyar Khan MP Sheikh Fayyazuddin pointed out the lack of quorum.
Referring to the vacant Treasury Bench, the PML-N MNA said they were ashamed to point out the lack of quorum which requires the presence of 86 members (one-fourth) of the 342-member House.
Lack of quorum house proceedings for the third consecutive day
The Speaker told Mr Fayazuddin that it was not appropriate to indicate the quorum, adding that he had come from a far-flung area only to attend the session.
The PML-N MLA replied that it was true that they had come from far-flung areas, but then, pointing to the empty treasury bench, he asked the speaker to ask the people of the government to attend the session. ,
The Speaker first adjourned the proceedings till the completion of the quorum, but later had to adjourn the meeting till Wednesday afternoon (tomorrow) after failing to ensure the attendance of the required number of members.
Similarly, on 22 and 24 December, the House was adjourned due to non-completion of quorum. However, interestingly, the records of the assembly show that a total of 219 members had registered their attendance on December 22, while 176 MPs had registered their presence on December 24.
Further analysis reveals that 89 members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies were present on the opening day of the current NA session on 22 December, while 105 Treasury members marked their presence on 24 December and Both the numbers were enough days to complete the quorum.
Opposition members have made it a practice to walk out of the house citing quorum. Most of the members of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were not present in the assembly on Monday as they were busy with the celebrations organized by the party on the 14th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Meanwhile, in a written reply to a question asked by PML-N’s Sheikh Rohale Asghar, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi informed the National Assembly that the construction of the Gwadar Eastbay Expressway would be completed by April 11, 2022, with a total cost of Rs. Rupee. , 17 would be Rs. .37 billion.
The construction work on the 19.4 kilometer expressway began on October 12, 2017. The minister said China Communications and Construction Company was the contractor for the project.
Responding to another question asked by PTI’s Nuzhat Pathan, Railway Minister Azam Swati told the assembly that there have been a total of 442 train accidents since PTI came to power from August 2018 to November 30.
Published in Dawn, December 28, 2021