LAHORE:
The government will get more rich people to pay taxes and take belt-tightening measures to raise the Rs6 billion it stands to lose by rejecting American grants, said Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Rana Sanaullah in a pre-budget briefing at the Punjab Assembly cafeteria on Thursday.
Sanaullah said that the Punjab budget, which is to be presented in the assembly on Friday, would be worth more than Rs600 billion and one-third of it would be allocated to the Annual Development Programme (ADP).
He said that around Rs3 billion would be saved through an austerity drive and Rs3 billion by enhancing the taxation network in posh areas to make up the aid shortfall of Rs6 billion from the rejection of US grants.
He said this would not affect ongoing development scheme, but did not give details.
The minister said the budget session of the Punjab Assembly would continue from June 10 to 22, with four days (June 13-16) reserved for general discussion, June 17-18 for discussion of annual demands, and June 21 for general discussion of the supplementary budget. The house would vote on the budget on June 22.
He said that the government would accommodate as far as possible the positive criticisms and suggestions made by the opposition about the budget. He said that all members’ budget proposals had been considered.
Sanaullah said that the government would revive several schemes like the Yellow Cab scheme, under which people were offered subsidies on the import of taxis. He said a lot of funds had been allocated to encourage youths to go into self-employment.
He said that the government had sufficient votes to pass the budget. He said the Unification Bloc was allowed to vote for the budget.
Asked about the Kamran Michael fiasco, Sanaullah acknowledged that the Punjab government had “mistakenly” notified Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman as the minister who would make the budget speech. He said they realised their mistake when they were pressed to let Michael give the speech since he officially held the Finance Department portfolio.
He said that the government, acting in light of an inquiry report on the floods, had removed the irrigation secretary.
The minister accused former federal law minister Babar Awan and President Asif Zardari of plotting against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and its government in the Punjab. He said Awan and Governor Sardar Latif Khosa were infamous among lawyers as “black sheep in black coats”. He claimed that Awan, who is arguing for the PPP in the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case in the Supreme Court, had celebrated the hanging of the former prime minister at the time.
He said that the aim of the PPP-PML-Quaid alliance was to enrich the parties’ top leaders. He also criticised Pakistan’s security agencies, saying it seemed they had turned against those whom it was supposed to protect. He said recent video footage showing the Rangers shooting an unarmed captive at point blank range lent force to complaints by the people of Balochistan about the brutality of the security forces.
He said that all signs in the torture and killing of journalist Saleem Shehzad pointed to the security agencies. He said a militant outfit could not have arranged for the wiping out of the data on the journalist’s mobile phone.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 10th, 2011.
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