LAHORE, Nov 27: The PPP on Thursday halted the Punjab Assembly proceedings for nearly one hour to demand action against the Mandi Bahauddin dictrict coordination officer (DCO) for his alleged misbehaviour with two of its MPAs, putting Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on the back foot.

A long debate on agriculture and the wind up speech of Agriculture Minister Ahmad Ali Aulakh was another worthwhile activity in the house. The minister dilated upon the subject and said the provincial government was taking steps for the promotion of the sector and welfare of farmers despite all odds.

The PPP MPAs hijacked the question hour on special education, excise and taxation and sports, making Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal and the law minister to beg for patience and seek time to get the version of DCO Waheed Akhtar Ansari.

The speaker had just announced beginning of the question hour when all PPP MPAs stood up to demand action against the DCO for his ‘misbehaviour’ with MPAs Tariq Sahi and Asim Bashir Cheema.

The MPAs said the DCO threw them out and locked his office. They said that they were not moving a privilege motion to agitate the issue because it was much more serious in nature. “We will not allow the proceedings to continue without an action against the DCO,” they said.

Mr Shaukat Basra said the DCO encouraged his staff to go on a strike and was using the media to camouflage his ‘misbehaviour’. “First suspend him and then initiate an inquiry into the incident,” he demanded.

Perturbed as he was with the onslaught of the PPP MPAs, the law minister said he agreed with them. But he pleaded that he should be given one hour to gather official version of the incident.“Kindly do not boycott the session, remain in the house because our respect is attached to it. The government is at your service and answerable to you,” he begged.

Mr Hasan Murtaza asked as to why the law minister was reluctant to suspend the DCO when a doctor was given the same treatment within an hour of a complaint against his misbehaviour with a journalist.

The law minister repeated his request, but it fell on deaf ears. This time a couple of PPP MPAs hurled taunts at him. “The doctor was suspended because he had no backing. And the suspension of the DCO looks difficult because he appears to be strong,” Mr Basra said.

PPP’s Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira tried to rescue the law minister by asking his colleagues to give the government some time for action, but he too failed to convince them.

The law minister offered to summon the chief secretary who was in Faisalabad and the DCO in two hours to resolve the issue, but the PPP MPAs took it as a deceiving act and insisted that the DCO must be suspended immediately.

The MPAs calmed down when the speaker announced a committee under Mr Kaira to look into the matter. But his invitation to the PML-Q to nominate one MPA for the committee was rejected by Mr Amer Sultan Cheema who said his party did not have anything to do with the issue, which only involved the PPP and the PML-N.

Finally, leader of the opposition Chaudhry Zaheeruddin agreed to spare one colleague for the committee, saying the issue was about the honour of the house and his party could not remain detached from it.

The committee members went out for two hours to look into the matter. But the PPP MPAs again halted the proceedings when the members returned to announce that the DCO was reaching Lahore by 4pm and action against him would be taken afterwards.

The law minister and the speaker intervened and asked the MPAs to allow the committee talk to the DCO. “We will accept the decision of the committee. Allow it to submit its report tomorrow,” the law minister pleaded.

He and the finance minister went to the agitating MPAs and managed to make them agree to their request.

DEBATE ON AGRICULTURE: Winding up the debate on agriculture, Mr Aulakh said the state of affairs of the sector was not satisfactory due to various reasons, but the Punjab government was trying to improve it. “We have decided to increase per acre yield and cultivable land by 25 per cent per annum,” he said.

He said the agriculture sector in Punjab was suffering because of various reasons. It was also being affected by the overall world food security crisis. He said agriculture production had fallen in Punjab. The sector was directly linked to the agro-based industry and 80 per cent of the country’s exports.

The minister said the government was doing its utmost to revive the sector, but it was not able to achieve the desired results because of its limitations. “We import 80 per cent fertilisers and have to follow the international prices. The cost of running agriculture tube wells on electricity is higher, but it’s a federal subject,” he said.

Admitting that small farmers could not bear the high cost of inputs, the minister said the province was also facing water shortage, which it could not overcome. “We are facing 35 per cent water shortage this year and the stoppage of Chenab water by India grossly affected agriculture in Punjab. Poor marketing of crops is another major problem. The sugar millers do not make timely payments to sugarcane growers,” he said.

He said the provincial government was taking short and long term measures to address the situation. It had been pouncing down upon adulterators, hoarders and black marketeers of fertilisers and pesticides. He said the province had a bumper rice crop this year, and hoped to get a good cotton crop because of the steps taken by the government. “We will soon convene a meeting to discuss your proposals. The chief minister is willing to allocate funds and manpower to improve the sector,” he said.

The minister said this year’s wheat target of 20 million ton could be achieved if farmers were given soft loans. “To facilitate them, we are giving subsidy on fertilisers and Rs2 billion for import of 10,000 tractors, he said.

Earlier, PML-N’s Waris Kalloo struggled for the presentation of a resolution he had drafted against the federal government’s alleged intention of imposing agriculture income tax at the behest of the IMF. His resolution, which he wanted to move in the house last week, was being kept after an assurance by PPP Senior Minister Raja Riaz that the federal government did not want to impose the tax.

But Mr Kalloo insisted for its presentation on Thursday after another member pointed out that IMF stated on Wednesday that the tax would be imposed in 2010.

Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood did not oppose the resolution, but said since the law minister was not in the house it was better to present it on Friday.

Earlier, a number of MPAs took part in the debate, pointing out various shortcomings in the agriculture sector.