Punjab Assembly session postponed without presentation of budget

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly session has been postponed till 1pm tomorrow (Tuesday) without the presentation of the budget for the fiscal year 2022-23, ARY News reported on Monday.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has postponed the budget session as the Opposition and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) continued protesting against each other.

The budget session was scheduled to begin at 2pm but started after several hours of delay. The opposition demanded an apology from Punjab Inspector-General (IG) and chief secretary.

Once the session started, the proceedings were abruptly halted as Speaker Pervaiz Elahi objected to the presence of Punjab government spokesperson Ata Tarar inside the hall. He ordered leader Ata Tarar to leave the assembly hall.

He also summoned sergeant-at-arms to take Ata Tarar out of the assembly hall. “Ata Tarar should leave the PA Hall voluntarily”, Pervaiz Elahi said. After the break, the session resumed with Elahi in the chair, while Tarar exited the assembly in “protest”.

However, Elahi once again demanded the chief secretary and the IG to appear before the house, saying that the “under no condition” budget could be presented without the duo’s apology. He later postponed the budget session till 1pm tomorrow (Tuesday) .