Balochistan Assembly: MPAs show ‘no interest’ in budget discussion

Several members dismiss development fund allocations as ‘inappropriate’.

QUETTA:

Lawmakers showed no interest in debating the Balochistan budget which led the speaker to adjourn the session for 15 minutes due to a lack of quorum.

Saturday’s session resumed afterwards but few members stood up to discuss the budget.

Provincial Minister for Agriculture Assad Baloch said the federal government did not provide funds in accordance with the province’s needs. “We need more dams to boost our agriculture sector, but the federal government has allocated Rs500 million only for the construction of dams which is lesser than our expectations,” he said.

Provincial minister Nasreen Khethran also expressed her resentment over not disclosing the details of development expenditures in the supplementary budget. “It is ironic that over Rs14 billion have been allocated or spent but details were not mentioned in the provincial PSDP,” she remarked. Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Maulana Abdul Bari was one of the few lawmakers who lauded the provincial government for presenting a ‘good budget’. Lawmakers also welcomed the fresh agreement with Iran under which electricity will be imported to overcome Balochistan’s power crisis.

Meanwhile, the Balochistan Employees Efficiency and Discipline Bill 2011 was also tabled in the House on Saturday. Speaker Aslam Bhootani presided over the session, while Minister for Services and General Administration Sardar Sanaullah Zehri tabled the bill. According to the bill’s text provided by the Assembly Secretariat, the Balochistan Province Removal from Service enforces the Special Powers Ordinance 2000 under which disciplinary cases of government servants are dealt. The centre had repealed the said ordinance earlier at federal level and has desired that the provincial governments repeal their respective ordinances too. Accordingly, the Balochistan Employees Efficiency and Discipline Act 2011 was drafted and approved by the provincial cabinet in its meeting held on March 17, 2011.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2011.