ISLAMABAD: The National Asse­m­bly on Wednesday once again failed to hold a debate on the flood situation in the country as the government, despite having over 100 cabinet members and parliamentary secretaries, failed to maintain quorum.

The presence of 86 members — one-fourth of the total 342-member house — is usually required to conduct the business of the house.

A lack of quorum was pointed out by Ghous Bakhsh Mahar of the opposition Grand Democratic Alliance after PPP MNA from Badin Ghu­lam Ali Talpur refused to deliver his spe­ech in the absence of ministers, forcing Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani to adjourn proceedings until Thursday morning (today).

Ministers also seemed to ignore Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s directives, which he had issued on Monday when the house faced a similar situation and members had refused to take part in the debate in the absence of ministers.

Lawmakers fail to hold debate on flood situation; Khursheed Shah joins members protesting against inflated power bills

Deferring the debate, the speaker had asked senior members of the cabinet to take up the issue of the absenteeism with PM Shehbaz Sharif and had also dir­ected Parliamentary Affairs Mini­ster Murtaza Javed Abbasi to ensure ministers’ presence during proceedings on Wednesday.

Even veteran PPP leader and Min­i­ster for Water Resources Khursheed Shah had protested over the “non-serious attitude” of his cabinet colleagues on Monday, stating that the whole world and the United Nations were worried over the damages caused by the floods in Pakistan, but they were not giving it any importance. Mr Shah had also stated that he had already taken up the issue with the prime minister, but to no avail.

“Send a picture of this house to the UN,” said Mr Talpur, pointing to the empty hall when he was given the floor by the deputy speaker after a 20-minute Maghrib prayer break.

The speaker had, in fact, announced the respite to enable the government to ensure the presence of its ministers for the debate.

On Wednesday, the PPP MNA said that even the two ministers who were present in the house before the prayer break had left by the time members returned to the house.

“This is the outcome of the speaker’s directive,” he added, while refusing to complete his speech, which he had begun with criticism of the national and provincial disaster management authorities over their poor response to the flood situation.

Another PPP MNA, Munawer Ali Talpur then took the floor and regretted that even ministers belonging to Sindh, which is the most affected province, were not present in the house to listen to the grievances of members.

Most of the ministers were not even present during the Question Hour and the replies were mostly given by the parliamentary secretaries concerned.

The federal cabinet comprises 75 members, including 35 ministers and 29 special assistants to the prime minister. Besides, the prime minister has appointed 36 parliamentary secretaries whose only responsibility is to answer the queries of members during the Question Hour in the absence of ministers and their deputies, known as ministers of state.

Earlier, the house witnessed an interesting situation when Khursheed Shah joined the protesting lawmakers over the issue of inflated electricity bills due to inclusion of fuel price adjustment (FPA).

When Minister for Energy Khurram Dastagir Khan was responding to a calling attention notice on the matter, Mr Shah took the floor and informed the house that he had received the bill at his residence showing the electricity charges of Rs33,000 and Rs274,000 FPA, stating that he is unable to understand this calculation.

When the minister replied that the government would resolve the issue once Mr Shah provided him the bill, the speaker said this was the issue being faced by all the people of Pakistan.

The minister admitted that people had to suffer due to inflated bills which they had received in August, but promised that the government would soon provide relief to them. He said electricity consumers had already been provided a Rs65 billion relief in FPA during the last two months.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2022