In a first, PA session to be convened at hotel due to pandemic

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly session slated to get underway on June 5 is likely to take place at a private hotel for the first time in the provincial legislature’s history because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The reason behind convening the session at a 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.

Arrangements to hold the PA session at the hotel located on Egerton road have already started.

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 Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar has summoned the Punjab Assembly session on June 5. The annual budget for the fiscal year 2020-21 will be presented in this session.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases and fatalities in the country has soared to 64,028 and 1,317 respectively, according to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC).

As many as 54 people died of complications related to the virus over the past 24 hours while 2,636 new infections surfaced in the country, taking the nationwide tally to 64,028.

22,964 cases have so far been detected in Punjab, 25,309 in Sindh, 8,842 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 3,928 in Balochistan, 2,100 in Islamabad, 658 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 227 in Azad Kashmir.