Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has stressed the need for establishing a monitoring system to keep an eye on the coronavirus situation.

He was chairing a meeting of the Punjab Assembly Finance Committee on Monday.  The meeting was told that Secretary Assembly Muhammad Khan Bhatti saved more than Rs376 from the assembly’s annual budget of 2020-21.

The Punjab Assembly speaker said that all educational institutions including private academies should be closed to stem the spread of pandemic as the virus claimed many lives of teachers and students while the number of covid-hit children has been on the rise since the start of this strike.

“If we want to save the country, we have to save the lives of our children and the youth,” he argued adding that online examinations were being conducted in the world and the country should have to follow in such footsteps. 

On the occasion, the finance committee approved the assembly budget of 2020-21. The meeting was attended by Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht and the members including Muzzaffar Ali Sheikh, Shujat Nawaz, Rais Nabeel Ahmed, Kashif Mehmood, Mian Shafee Muhammad, Mian Tariq Abdullah, Raja Yawar Ali Khan, and secretary Assembly Muhammad Khan Bhatti.