Deputy speaker, ministers walk out of PA session

QUETTA, March 29: The deputy speaker and six ministers walked out of a session of the Balochistan Assembly on Tuesday in protest against the government`s failure to supply electricity to agriculture tube-wells. Deputy Speaker Syed Matiullah Agha and ministers Zamarak Khan Piralizai, Sultan Tareen, Mir Abdur Rehman, Shah Nawaz Marri, Mir Tariq Masuri, Ammal Kalmati and Basant Lal said the energy crisis and suspension of electricity for 10 days had destroyed agriculture in the province. Speaker Nawab Aslam Bhootani said the ministers should not have walked out of the session because such protests could not solve the problems. He said that no doubt people were confronted with a power crisis, but it was also true that the government and the departments concerned had been making efforts to restore the power supply. The ministers said that there was power crisis because of blowing of electricity towers and pylons, but it was also a fact that repair work by Qesco was very slow owing to which farmers` orchards and crops were badly affected. They said that thousands of farmers led by the Zamindar Action Committee held a demonstration outside the assembly on Saturday and they were assured that if electricity was not restored they would also join the protest by not attending the session. Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd did not agree with fellow colleagues that Qesco was solely responsible for the power crisis and the repair work was in progress despite the fact that three Frontier Corps personnel were killed and the two staff members of Qesco lost their legs in blasts during the repair work. The speaker asked the law minister to submit detailed report in the next session from the forest department about the violation of agreement by petroleum refining and petro-chemical corporation as pointed out by the minister. Minister Zahoor Buledi said on point of order that the company had signed an agreement in 1996 with the provincial government for growing trees on 5,000 acres of leased land allotted by the government in the Vendor area of Lasbela district. He said that under the agreement the company was bound not to sublet the land to another company or individual without the prior approval of the provincial government, but the company violated the agreement by subletting a portion of it. Law Minister Shama Parveen Magsi tabled the Balochistan Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2011 in absence of home minister that was passed by the house. The session was adjourned till Friday.