Punjab Assembly session at hotel to cost taxpayers dearly

LAHORE: A session of the Punjab Assembly is being convened at a Lahore hotel due to the coronavirus fears.

The session summoned by Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi will start on June 5 and continue until June 29.

Sources at the assembly secretariat today confided to ARY News that the provincial legislature’s session at the hotel will incur additional expenses of about Rs20 million. Usually, the per day cost of the assembly’s session to taxpayers is around Rs10 million, including salaries and allowances of members of the assembly.

The additional cost estimated at Rs20 million includes expenditures to be incurred on hotel rent and food. A spokesperson for the Punjab Assembly said the secretariat will release details of expenses of the assembly session at the hotel tomorrow.

The reason behind convening the session at the hotel is to ensure strict adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPs), including social distancing protocols, for the MPAs, which was impossible to implement given the size of the assembly hall.

Earlier, it was decided to convene the session at Aiwan-e-Iqbal but the decision was taken back due to a lack of necessary facilities for the members of provincial legislatures.

It is to mention here that the annual budget for the fiscal year 2020-21 will be presented in this session.