Punjab: The Punjab Assembly on Friday passed three key Bills in just 10 minutes without any discussion. The Bills passed in the House include the Indian Stamp (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Transfer of Prisoners (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2025; and the Punjab Regulation of Crushers Units and Stockists and Retailers Bill, 2025. A senior Congress MLA told the Tribune that hard copies of the Bills were not made available to them. The Bills were uploaded online. “We are not technically savvy enough to read these online,” he said. However, no opposition MLA in the Assembly raised the issue. During Zero Hour, independent MLA Rana Inder Pratap Singh even said he felt bad when Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann forbade him from speaking on the budget discussion in the House as he had studied all the documents. “But when the CM spoke, I felt I was speaking. It seems our souls are one,” he said. Before concluding his speech, he said that only 0.12 per cent of the beneficiaries will benefit from the amount earmarked for the health insurance scheme for all. Initially, he praised the scheme and asked the ruling party to thump the tables. Later, he asked Congress MLAs to do the same. Only his father, Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh thumped the tables, though Rana Inder Pratap’s appeal to his uncle, Leader of Opposition Pratap Bajwa, fell on deaf ears. Akali Dal MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali did not criticise the ruling party. Instead, he criticised the manner in which the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee removed three Takht Jathedars in the last two months. He drew the attention of the House to the need to frame rules for the appointment of Jathedars. On Friday too, when Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had targeted Bajwa, most of his party colleagues were seen laughing at their own leader. During the budget discussion, the Congress’ attack on the ruling party remained subdued as its leaders wanted to know when the government would implement the promise of giving women an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month. BSP’s lone MLA Nachhatar Pal also praised the AAP government for setting aside 34 per cent of the budget for the welfare of scheduled castes in the state.
