PA approves demands for agriculture, development

Resolution passed to condemn Amjad Sabri’s killing

LAHORE: Of the 43 demands for grants for the 2016-2017 annual budget, only two were approved by the Provincial Assembly on Thursday amid a heated debate as Opposition benches moved cut motions.

Demands for grants under the heads of Agriculture and Development worth Rs7.86 billion and Rs388 billion, respectively, were approved during Thursday’s session. The House also took a break from the budget debate to condemn the killing of qawwali maestro Amjad Fareed Sabri. A resolution condemning the murder was passed unanimously. Waheed Gul led fateha for the departed. The assembly staff recited Sabri’s famed qawwali Tajdaar-i-Haram at the start of the session. The resolution also condemned the recent wave of terrorist activities in Karachi.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was in the building but appeared in the House briefly towards the end of the session.

Two of the six motions to reduce allocations for grants were declined following debate. The third motion, pertaining to health services, was kept pending after Opposition members protested at the absence of the parliamentary secretary concerned. When a cut motion on demand for grants for health services worth Rs71 billion was moved by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Murad Raas, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Faiza Malik pointed out that the department was not represented by a minister and the parliamentary secretary was also not present.

Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha volunteered to respond to the motion for slashing grants but Opposition members insisted that rules be followed in this regard. The Chair then put the matter in pending business. The debate on the motion resumed when the chief secretary issued a notification assigning Pasha the responsibility of assembly business for health services.

An agitated Leader of the Opposition slammed the notification saying that the CM, who holds the health portfolio, was absent from the House despite being on the premises. By that time Adviser to CM on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique had arrived in the House. Minister Rana Sanaullah contested the Opposition’s stance saying the finance minister could respond to all cut motions.

During debate on cut motion on health grants, Opposition lawmakers noted that funds allocated for the sector previously had been under-utilised.

Nosheen Hamid questioned the purpose of the grant saying public sector hospitals were advertising appeals for charity. Annoyed with the notification, Faiza Malik said she was not surprised that the province had no health minister considering the country was being run without a prime minister.

Earlier, during the debate on the cut motion regarding agriculture sector, questions were raised regarding the efficacy of Kissan Package, proposed subsidies and smart phones for farmers. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Ahmad Shah Khagga mockingly congratulated the government for the decline in agriculture. Arif Abbasi and Sardar Shahabuddin proposed that the department be closed down for its poor performance. PML-Q’s Sardar Vickas Hassan Mokal claimed that Rs2.5 billion, reserved for the sector in the previous budget, had been diverted to Orange Line Metro Train.

Agriculture Minister Farrukh Javed admitted that the sector faced several challenges and farmers were not in the best of conditions. But, he said, this only strengthened the case for allocating more funds for it. The Opposition lost the motion and the demand for agriculture was approved.

PTI’s Mian Aslam Iqbal took nearly 90 minutes to blame the government for misappropriations pointed out in the Auditor General of Pakistan’s report for 2014-2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2016.