LAHORE – Ill-prepared and confused parliamentary secretary failed to satisfy not only legislators from both sides of the political divide but also the Chair, and even contradicted own given data while replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour on Finance, Planning and Development at the Punjab Assembly floor on Wednesday.
Hapless Parliamentary Secretary Planning and Development Rana Tanvir Nasir tried to evade supplementary queries by saying that it was a different subject that needed a fresh question. On several occasions, Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal advised parliamentary secretary to listen to queries carefully before giving answers on the floor of the House. He pended several questions on failure of parliamentary secretary in giving satisfactory answers. He refused to constitute committees to probe alleged embezzlement in Bank of Punjab and double payment of government ads, saying that same issues could not be taken up on different forums.
The PA proceedings started at 12:35 pm, two hours and 35 minutes beyond the scheduled time, with Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal in the Chair. After talawat and naat, the chair took up Question Hour.
Answering a supplementary question, Rana Tanvir Nasir said that Information Technology Department had not prepared its balanced. The chair advised the parliamentary secretary to give updated information and think before speaking at the floor of the House. On more than one occasion, Minister Haji Ehsan-ud-Din whispered in the ear of the parliamentary secretary most probably for giving advice and rescuing his hapless colleague.
While pending questions relating to delay in issuance of number plates for official vehicles, the chair advised parliamentary secretary to give detailed and updated reply on Thursday (today). Legislators said that no number plate had been issued since November 2011 despite receiving required fee. They argued that anti social elements were taking benefit from the situation by displaying number plates of choice on vehicles.  Replying to a supplementary query of Samina Khawar Hayat, the parliamentary secretary said that he was not aware that IT Centre in Lahore that was named after Arfa Karim was started by Pervaiz Elahi government.