The provincial government has only specified details for Rs10 billion of the Rs70 billion allocated for development in south Punjab this year, said PML-Q MPA Mohisn Leghari on Friday.
He was speaking during the budget session in the Punjab Assembly. Leghari said last year only Rs5 billion of the Rs52 billion allocated for south Punjab was released. He complained that the government had reduced the allocation for Tribal Areas from Rs3 billion three years ago to Rs150 million.
Leghari said disparity between the people of the northern and south parts of the province was evident in the quality of life index. Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Faisalabad and Jhelum are at the top while Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang, Pakpatan, Bahawalnagr, Rajanpur and Mianwali at the bottom,” he said.
Leghari said that in rejecting foreign aid, the government was only giving up a $76 million (Rs6.5 Billion) grant for Southern Punjab Municipal Services Project and a $148 million project for education in south Punjab.
“This looks more like a no to south Punjab’s development than a no to foreign aid,” he said.
PPP MPA Abdul Qadir Gilani said spending on construction of the Lahore Ring Road alone was three times the funds allocated for south Punjab. He said Rs220 billion would be spent to build the road.
Earlier, Leghari demanded that the government provide details of the Rs25 billion wheat subsidy. He said the house could not debate the issue unless it knew how the funds would be spent. The budget document, he said, only mentioned the allocation and gave no details.
Besides, he said, the government should explain the amounts it would borrow over and above the loans mentioned in the budget.
He wanted to know what was the share of the province in the Rs400 billion credit given to the federal and provincial governments by for commodity operations by the State Bank of Pakistan.
He referred to the Rs4 billion allocated for the Ramazan package and questioned the rationale for wheat subsidy considering the government was subsidising
essential commodities under the package through the Utility Stores Corporation.
Leghari said the budget document had no information on new loans the government would take in 2011-12.
He criticised the government for giving undue importance to projects like Daanish Schools, Ashiayana Housing Scheme, Yellow Cab and Sasti Roti.
He said Daanish Schools were not the solution for the province’s education problems.
He said according to the provincial government’s figures at least 5 million children of school-going age in the province lacked access to education. He said one third of the women of the province had never attended a school, two thirds of children in rural areas could not read and less than one third can answer comprehension questions after reading a paragraph.
About health budget, he said 20 mobile health units were insufficient for a province with maternal mortality rate of 260 in 1,000. He said only 38 percent of deliveries in the province were attended by trained workers.
Law Minister: Talking to media outside the assembly, provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said he would soon write a letter to the governor seeking explanation for the letter he had written to the chief minister.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2011.
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