No governor’s rule in Punjab, insists Taseer

[Naveed Yaseen]

PUNJAB Governor Salman Taseer has said that although he holds the powers of executive governor in Punjab yet practically, the province is not under the governor’s rule.

He was on a surprise visit to thickly-populated localities of Lahore to monitor the functioning of the sastay tandoors at Garhi Shahu, Islampura and the Sanda Road on Sunday.

Talking to the media, the governor said although he had been given constitutional powers of executive governor after the disqualification of former chief minister by the Supreme Court but practically there was no governor’s rule in Punjab. He said the Punjab Assembly still existed and human rights were protected and neither emergency nor Section-144 had been imposed. He said people were free to express their views and no arrest was made and no shell of tear gas was fired. He said that no single political party had a simple majority in the province and when any two political parties would form alliance, they would gain majority. Floor-crossing was not allowed under the law, he maintained.

Answering a question about the lawyers’ long march, Salman Taseer said those who wanted to march, would be allowed to do so and it would be good for their health as well and as long as they hold a peaceful demonstration, the government would not create any hurdle in their way.

When asked that how long the governor’s rule would last, he said the assembly session would be convened when any two political parties agreed on forming an alliance, announcing their parliamentary leader. Later, the governor would analyse which alliance had a clear majority to form a coalition government, he added.

Replying to a question about the ‘harsh language’ of the PML-N leaders, the governor said that “their language reflects their personalities.”

Salman Taseer ordered the officials of the Punjab Food Department and the district government, Lahore, including the raiding party, accompanying the governor, to weigh the roti at sastay tandoors in his presence. He also tested the quality of roti personally at various tandoors. He received feedback from the general public about the provision of sasti roti.

The governor said the government of Pakistan Peoples’ Party was the government of the poor and it was our mission to provide maximum relief to people. He said the government was spending Rs300 million per month for provision of sasti roti. He said the government was giving a subsidy of Rs160 per 20kg flour bag to the 11,700 tandoors of big cities of the province and 20-kg flour bag was being supplied at Rs250. He said the government had allocated Rs6 billion as subsidy for the sasti roti scheme in the provincial budget and those who would be caught selling roti on a price higher than Rs2 despite getting cheap flour would be punished.

The governor said the previous government was supplying cheap roti to the 70 per cent tandoors situated in posh localities of the big cities while he would extend the scope of the scheme to the poor localities. The governor said according to the information, there were 300 ghost tandoors, which were registered under the sasti roti scheme and flour was being purchased for these tandoors. He said the government was taking action against the ghost tandoors and every penny of people would be accounted for.

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