LAHORE – Provincial Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Leghari told the Punjab Assembly on Friday that underground water level had gone down up to 130 feet and the government was taking concrete steps to bring it up.
Responding to queries by lawmakers regarding his ministry during the Question-Hour in the Punjab Assembly, he said that the Irrigation Department had set up a special cell to gauge the falling water levels.
He said that to regulate the underground water levels, Water Act 2019 had already been prepared while to create awareness amongst masses a drive had also been launched.
About natural calamities, the minister said that recent rains and water released by India into Pakistani rivers, as many as 19 districts were affected adversely, adding that only in Sialkot district, 15,000 inhabitants were forced to migrate to safer places.
Earlier, on Friday, the 10th sitting of the sixth session of the current assembly started two hours and two minutes behind its scheduled time with a member of the panel of the chairmen Mian Muhammad Shafi in the chair. Some 28 lawmakers were present at the outset of the sitting.
Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) parliamentary leader attended the proceedings while the opposition leader, Hamza Shehbaz, remained absent. He has not been attending the settings since the start of the current session.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Basharat Raja tabled the reports on the Punjab Occupational Safety and Health Bill, 2019 and the Namal Institute Mianwali Bill, 2019.
The House held a discussion on the annual performance reports of development authorities of Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan and Rawalpindi for the year 2012-13.
On completion of the day’s agenda, the chair adjourned the House to meet again on January 21, (Monday) at 3pm.
