Chandigarh, March 29 — The Punjab Assembly on Friday passed three key Bills in just 10 minutes without any discussion. The Bills—Indian Stamp (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2025, Transfer of Prisoners (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2025, and Punjab Regulation of Crusher Units, and Stockists and Retailers Bill, 2025—were cleared swiftly as the Opposition remained silent.
A senior Congress MLA later claimed that hard copies of the Bills were not provided and that they were only uploaded online. “We are not so tech-savvy to read them online,” he said. However, no Opposition members raised the issue in the House.
During the Zero Hour, Independent MLA Rana Inder Pratap Singh revealed that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had asked him not to speak during the Budget discussion. “I felt bad at first, but when the CM spoke, it seemed as if I was speaking. It feels like our souls are one,” he said.
SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali refrained from criticizing the ruling party, instead slamming the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) over the recent removal of three Takht Jathedars. He urged the House to frame rules for their appointments.
Meanwhile, the Congress attack on the government was subdued, with its MLAs merely seeking clarity on the promised ₹1,000 monthly honorarium for women. BSP’s lone MLA Nachhatar Pal praised the AAP government for earmarking 34% of the Budget for the welfare of Scheduled Castes.
