LAHORE – The Punjab government will build two stadiums in every tehsil of the province, Parliamentary Secretary Rana Muhammad Arshad informed the Punjab Assembly during the questions-hour on Thursday. He said the govt allocated land at 150 various points in the City for sports activities both for males and females.
The PA Session which started at 11:20am, 80 minutes late the fixed time of 10am, with Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan in the chair, heard questions on the department of Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism, on the Government Business day.
At a point during the proceedings when a member indicated incomplete and unsatisfactory answers besides absence of the Secretary concerned, the Opposition Leader Raja Riaz burst out at the secretaries for taking presence in the house lightly. Raja who sounded targeting the Chief Minster more than the secretaries, went on to say that the CM has gone ‘missing’ and the House needs to advertise for his appearance in the session. The province, he said, is having one man show and referring to his talk with a minister said, the Minister told him that the secretaries neither bother to attend the session nor they brief the ministers and the parliamentary secretaries and they need to be treated with sympathy as such. On another point, Raja wanted appearance of the CM in the House to take the members into confidence on the death caused by the use of reactionary medicines of the PIC. The Law Minister Rana Sanaullah promised to convey Raja’s message to the CM.
Answering the questions, Rana Arshad said the Punjab government appointed a Director General for the rehabilitation of historic Jahangir Tomb after its care had been relegated to the Provincial government under the 18th Amendment by the Federal Government which, he said, had fixed the year 2016 for completing the job which the provincial government will do much earlier. He said Rs 80 million had so far been spent on the renovation and decoration of the tomb. The Opposition members Sajida Mir, Sultana Ulfat Dar, and others, however, painted a sorry picture of the state of the tomb where they said, walls were dilapidated, cleanliness was poor and insects were rampant and no proper facilities to the visitors.
As to adjacent Tomb of Empress Noor Jahan, the PS said, its restoration was also in the planning and PC-1 of it had been prepared. Mian Rafiq lamented end of tourism in the country due to terrorism and lack of security to the tourists mainly from abroad. Sultana Dar when pinpointed the deteriorated condition of  famous Dhobighat Ground, Faisalabad with special reference to PML(N)’s recent pubic meeting, the PS said Rs 10 million had been earmarked for this ground and the Chair wanted the government to complete restoration of the ground at the earliest.
Col Naveed Sajid groused over the only stadium in South Punjab (Bahawalpur) out of total 10 in the Punjab, despite the fact this part has 45 million population.
The PS informed the House that CM ordered for establishing two stadiums in every tehsil of the province and work was underway on this plan. He hoped that much of suffocation in society would be evaporated by promoting sports activity in the province. He said Punjab Sports Board was getting Rs 40 million grant in aid besides separate funds had been allocated for sports in the development programmes.