Budget debate: Opposition critical of supplementary budget

Several members said release of supplementary grants was a bad practice

LAHORE: Opposition benches opposed demands for supplementary grants for 2015-2016, criticising the government for its poor planning as the House debated supplementary budget on Tuesday.

Members from both Treasury and Opposition benches were unanimous in calling release of supplementary grants a bad practice. Some Opposition members went as far as calling it a theft of public money. They said government’s claims of enforcing austerity measures were baseless.

Questioning the government’s spending priorities, PTI lawmakers said the government had been unable to spend funds allocated in several sectors but was seeking supplementary grants in others.

Mian Aslam Iqbal stressed the need for third party audits of funds spent by various government departments. He said funds allocated to various departments had been used for other purposes. He was heckled by Treasury members who passed remarks about his association with General Pervez Musharraf’s government. Iqbal retorted by saying that three fourth of the House had been associated with Musharraf’s regime. He said the PML-N leaders had gained prominence with the support of General Ziaul Haq.



Shunila Ruth said supplementary grants were not justified because the funds had not been used in any emergency or for an immediate need. She said supplementary grants had been just 1.78 percent of the budget in 2013-2014. This had increased to 3.11 per cent in 2014-2015 and to 10.3 per cent in 2015-2016, she added.

Ruth said the spending had included that on the Chief Minister’s House. She said that Rs54.5 billion of the supplementary budget had been spent on the Orange Line Metro Train project and Rs70.46 billion on making payments to sugar mills.

Nabeela Hakim highlighted under the head for allowances for gifts Rs140 million of these grants had been by the Governor’s House and Rs50 million by the CM’s House.

Several opposition lawmakers started chanting sada haq aithe rakh (give us our due now) as Haji Javed Akhtar showed to the House photos of flooded streets from his constituency.

Dr Nosheen Hamid urged the Chair to put in place rules allowing the government to use supplementary grants only under specific circumstances. She said overspending in non-development expenditure of various government departments had been around Rs1 billion. She said nine Toyota cars had been purchased for use of the law minister and secretary and members of a sub-committee on law.

Taimoor Masood said around 150 bureaucrats had gone on foreign visits despite a ban on such visits. He said the austerity committee established by the chief minister that had imposed the ban included Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha. Purchase of new vehicles for government officials had also been banned by the committee, he added.

Other lawmakers drew the Chair’s attention towards the plight of southern districts of the province. They said the region had been neglected in the use of supplementary grants as well.

Treasury members Mian Rafique and Amjad Ali Javed were also critical of use of supplementary grants. They urged the government to ensure better planning in allocation of funds to avoid poor utilisation in some sectors and need for supplementary grants in others.

Shehzad Munshi criticised the delay in disbursement of stipends to minority community students. He said that the advisory council formed for minorities in the absence of a standing committee should be dissolved as its convener had not been chosen from the minority MPAs part of the committee.

The session will resume on Wednesday morning. The finance minister would conclude the debate on supplementary budget.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2016.