Punjab Prisons Minister Chaudhry Waheed Arain on Tuesday informed the Punjab Assembly that there were 80 HIV positive prisoners across the province and they were being given treatment.
The Prisons Department had screened all the prisoners and found 377 HIV positive inmates. He said the department had started treatment of 113 patients and six of them died. However, he said, as soon as the HIV positive patients were released, the department did not follow them as it’s civil society duty to take care and offer treatment facilities to such patients. He also said most of such patients were habitual addicts.
Mr Arain was responding to supplementary questions during the question hour in the Punjab Assembly.
Family rooms completed for women prisoners in two jails
Responding to another question, he said no civilian had so far been executed and only those convicted by the military courts were being convicted.
Responding to a question, the minister said jammers had been installed in 14 prisons in the province at a cost of Rs333m and they would be installed in all the prisons by the end of the current financial year.
To a question that jammers in some prisons were causing problems for the residents and people visiting the offices in adjacent localities, Mr Arain said the cellular companies were told to install additional towers and increase their frequency to offer uninterrupted services to their consumers.
Mr Arain said all the prisons had lady doctors as well as medicines and for the first time in Pakistan inmates were being imparted training in five different technical courses in collaboration with the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta).
Responding to Chaudhry Ashraf Ali Ansari’s question, the prisons minister said all the prisons in Punjab had prisoners more than their capacity. In Central Jail, Gujranwala, he said, the jail capacity was 1,425 but there were 3,085 inmates, including 62 women and 72 children. He said six new prisons would soon be made functional, including a high security prison in Sahiwal. The other five prisons would be opened in Hafizabad, Pakpattan, Layya, Bhakkar and Okara.
To a question asked by Anees Qureshi, the minister said the family rooms had been completed for women inmates in Multan and Faisalabad while the 65pc work in Rawalpindi had completed. In Lahore, he said, the staff was being recruited.
Mr Arain said the women inmates would apply to the DCO, who would get confirmation about their husbands from NADRA and then allow them to stay with their husbands for three days.
The minister also told the House that the food being given to inmates had improved with Rs80.9 per head cost.
Earlier, the excise and taxation parliamentary secretary informed the House that 95 welfare organisations had been given property tax exemption during the past five years.
Jamaat-i-Islami’s Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar, who had asked the question, raised the objection that out of 95 organisations, tax exemption was also being given to one belonging to a minority community. The parliamentary secretary said the property tax exemption was given to welfare organisations as per law regardless of the fact that which sect or religion they belonged to.
Unhappy over the response, Dr Akhtar walked out of the assembly. However, he returned after the Speaker sent some members to bring him back.
The House unanimously adopted four resolutions during the private members’ proceedings.
Shamila Aslam had tabled a resolution that ramps should be constructed in all offices and public places for the facilitation of the persons with disabilities.
Sheikh Allauddin presented a resolution that the federal government should be requested to ensure that new and old mobiles’ sale purchase should not be processed without original invoice and customer’s ID card’s copy.
Kanwal Nauman presented a resolution that the Ganj Shakar Special Education Centre, Okara, established in 1988, should be upgraded from middle to high school. Minister Malik Nadeem Kamran said a feasibility had already been prepared and it would be reflected in the 2015-16 budget.
Lubna Faisal presented a resolution that the NGOs working for the welfare of women in Punjab should be registered and their accounts be audited.
Later, Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan adjourned the session till 9am on Jan 2.
