National News

LAHORE, Feb 3 (MILLAT): Provincial Minister for Law and
Parliamentary Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan told Punjab Assembly
on Friday the Bank of Punjab did not waive off loan of any
recipient.
However, he said, the bank gave discount and wrote off
mark-up on principal amounts of 168 different companies and
individuals, but recovered principal amounts from them.
The Minister was responding to an Adjournment Motion by
opposition leader Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed.
He said the allegation regarding writing off loans as
levelled by the mover was groundless and unrealistic.
As the members from opposition benches were not satisfied
with the reply to the Adjournment Motion, they protested on
floor of the House regarding loans written off by the Bank of
Punjab.
Earlier, the sitting, the 10th of the 26th session of
the current assembly was started with Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal
in the Chair.
Answering question by lawmakers during Question-Hour
session Parliamentary Secretary for School Education Joyce
Rofian Julius told the House the Punjab government was
prioritizing the education sector and spending huge amounts
on promotion of education in the province.
“We are pursuing a plan to provide basic facilities at all
the government schools,” she said adding teachers were being
recruited at those schools where teachers were missing.
Replying to a question by Shehzad Munshi, she said, 42
missionary schools were running under the control of federal
government in the province. In 1972, she said, 69 missionary
schools were nationalised while the Punjab government had
returned 39 schools to their owners and rest 30 missionary
schools were still under the provincial government control.
To another question by Dr Nausheen Hamid, she said, four
schools were running under the City District Government Lahore
in PP-142.
The parliamentary secretary responded to ten questions
while nine were disposed off due to the absence of movers.
A PTI lawmaker Mian Aslam Iqbal pointed out the quorum
and the Chair ordered for ringing bells for 15 minutes and
after head count the required strength was not present, the
Speaker adjourned the sitting till Monday (February 6 )
afternoon.