K-P Assembly passes budget for FY18-19

Opposition withdraws cut motions following assurances from chief minister of addressing concerns

The provincial assembly on Wednesday passed the provincial budget for the fiscal year 2018-19, with a total outlay of Rs648 billion.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Finance (Amendment) Bill 2018, imposes a sales tax on services on electronic billboards, advertisements through e-media and other web-based services, contractors of buildings, port operators and terminal operators and airport ground service providers along with printing, embossing and carving services which earlier not included under the tax net.

The House passed all the 59 demands for grants included in the fiscal year 2018-19, as the opposition lawmakers withdrew their cut motions after Chief Minister Mahmood Khan assured them of addressing their issues.

Addressing the chief complaint of the opposition of unequal distribution of development projects in the budget, CM Mahmood announced a mega-project for each district of the province in the next budget.

“We are short of cash this year, but we will include a megaproject for every district in next budget. We will accommodate our people and you are representing the people here,” he said while pointing to members in the house. He assured that the issues highlighted by the opposition lawmakers in the house will be addressed. “I have noted all the issues raised here,” Mahmood said.

The chief minister directed the chief secretary to ensure the presence of each administrative secretary in the assembly session. No officer less than the rank of an additional secretary will come to the [budget] session to represent the department, he directed. “If someone cannot continue to work with us then they are free to leave their job and sit at home,” he said.

Earlier, before the chief minister’s speech, opposition lawmakers criticised the performance of the provincial higher education department.

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) lawmaker Mian Nisar Gul criticised the department for failing to construct the building to house the Khushal Khan Khattak University in Karak for the past four years.

The leader of the Opposition in the K-P Assembly Akram Durrani added that the government had raised the fees in universities which were uncalled for. Moreover, he said that there was a shortage of hostels on campuses and the state of existing hostels was quite poor. “If my students lack accommodation, how can they continue their education?” asked Durrani.

He suggested that the chief minister hold a meeting with vice chancellors of all varsities in the province and ask them to present a report on their performance.

Separately, he should gather information about the performance of the vice chancellors through the special branch or other sources and then pose the problems in the meeting and seek solutions.

“The government should not only withdraw its decision of the raised fees but also reduce the fees,” he said, adding that grants to universities should be equally distributed on a need basis.

MMA’s lawmaker Inayatullah Khan said the mushroom growth of universities was the reason behind the current financial crisis faced by higher education institutions. “Are you putting a ban on establishing new universities,” he asked, adding that after the 18th Amendment, the provinces had to establish their own higher education commissions which K-P has yet to do.

Inayatullah further raised the controversy surrounding the Education Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) test for medical colleges.

Noting that the tests were flawed apart from a punitive marking pattern for the paper adopted by the agency, he called for setting up a parliamentary committee to probe the matter.

Only five per cent of students got over 60 per cent marks in the ETEA test, while in Punjab, 50 per cent of students get 60 per cent marks or more. “If this continues, then our own students will not get admissions and the seats will be filled by students from other provinces,” he feared.

MMA’s Munawar Khan warned of starting a movement to create a separate administrative province comprising southern districts which have been deprived. “I will start a separate province movement for southern districts because if you do not have your own chief minister, you do not get any attention,” he lamented.

Responding to the criticisms and questions of opposition lawmakers, CM Mahmood addressed the ETEA controversy by the station that the agency requires ‘complete surgery’.

"We want to strengthen the ETEA and will turn it into an institution like the K-P Public Service Commission," he said.

To Munawar's threats of starting a movement for a separate province, Mahmood suggested that he should have raised this topic when Durrani was the provincial chief minister. “I think Munawar is afraid of Durrani which is why he did not demand a separate province at that time [when Durrani was chief minister],” he quipped.

Two more take oath

Two more lawmakers-elect, including Sardar Khan of the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N), and Waqar Ahmed Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP), were sworn in on Wednesday. K-P Assembly speaker Mushtaq Ghani administered the oath of office to the two MPAs and welcomed them to the house.

ANP’s Parliamentary Leader Sardar Hussain Babak also welcomed the two new members and lauded the sacrifices rendered by Waqar’s family, detailing that militants in Swat had killed his brother along with two sons and five servants in his courtyard.

“I would not call them Taliban, rather I would call them Ujrati Qatil (assassins), who came to his house and killed Waqar’s brother along with his two sons and five servants,” Babak said, adding that the state did not recognize their sacrifices. “We never recognised the sacrifices of such families but history will remember the sacrifices of ANP and its workers for this land forever,” he said.

The house also offered prayers for Baba Haider Zaman of Hazara Subah Tehreek.