Punjab Assembly: Govt crictised for under spending, sanitation woes

‘Ensure provision of basic facilities to people from transgender community’ .

LAHORE: Under utilisation of budget in 2015-16 and the Saaf Pani Project came under fire from the Opposition and some disgruntled Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) lawmakers during the Provincial Assembly session on Tuesday.

Lawmakers from southern districts of the province highlighted economic deprivation of their areas.

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Murad Raas criticised the government for its failure to revamp sewerage infrastructure as he displayed what he claimed was a sample of water collected from Gulberg area. The water sample had dirt particles in it.

Tuesday’s session lasted for five hours.

Dr Raas criticised the government for having spent only Rs4 billion of the Rs11 billion set aside for the Saaf Pani Project last year. He said there had been no improvement in the dilapidated sewerage facilities in Gulberg area over the past decade. The government could have revamped sewerage infrastructure in most areas between Jail Road and Ferozepur Road with Rs4 billion, he said. Instead, he said, road infrastructure had been the government’s priority area for the city. Some Treasury members, too, expressed concerns over spending on sanitation works. PML-N’s Javed Akhtar said that implementation of the Saaf Pani Project had been poor. Khalid Hanif criticised the government for ignoring his constituency in Jhang in allocation of funds for social sectors.

Treasury member Sheikh Alaud Din dismissed as anti-business the 16 per cent sales tax on services and 19 per cent general sales tax (GST) levied in the new budget.

The session was interrupted because of a brief walkout by the Opposition. The debate continued after the resumption of the session. Responding to PML-N’s Zaeem Qadri, PML-Q’s Khadija Umar said the debt burden had gone up to Rs533 billion. “It was remarkable for the government to still speak well of its governance. The province is being operated through companies, ” she said

JI’s Syed Waseem Akhtar said power generated from the Bahawalpur Solar Park should be used on a priority basis to meet the energy demand in southern districts. He demanded that a relatively higher number of jobs in the solar park should be reserved for people from southern districts. Akhtar demanded that the government should show its strength by taking up the issue of construction of Kalabagh Dam.

PML-Q’s Dr Muhammad Afzal said no progress had been made for completion of water supply schemes in Cholistan area for the past three years. He demanded that Cholistan should be given the status of a district.

A heated argument ensued between Treasury member Syed Abdul Aleem and PTI’s Nabeela Hakim when the latter criticised the PML-N leadership. Aleem had to leave the House amid the Opposition’s protest against his remarks in response to Hakim. He had questioned why she was not ‘covering her head with a dupatta’.

Opposition benches claimed that 37 per cent of last year’s development budget had remained unused. Akhtar said the unused funds had been re-appropriated to the Orange Line project.

Discussing budgetary allocations for minority communities, lawmakeres recommended that Khidmat Cards be issued to deserving people from minority communities. They sought revisions in mechanism for disbursement of Christmas funds. PML-N’s Zulfiqar Ghauri said the public sector job quota for minority communities should be raised from five to 10 per cent.

The lawmakers urged the government to ensure provision of basic facilities and equality of opportunity to people from the transgender community. They said the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the transgender community should be protected. Some cabinet members present in the House scoffed at these proposals.

The debate will resume on Wednesday when the House is scheduled to vote on demands for grants.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2016.