MPAs discontented with implications of Sindh Budget

KARACHI: Members of the treasury and the opposition benches in the Sindh Assembly (SA) criticised the government’s discriminatory approach in initiating development schemes across the province.

Ministers said that the budget had failed to take into account, most of the districts across Sindh while planning development schemes.

“Umerkot, Badin and Thatta have been completely ignored during proposals for special packages or new schemes,” ministers claimed.

“This is discrimination,” said Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Taimur Talpur. “The budget has been utilised to develop [only a few] districts.”

Five or six districts have been lavished with billions of rupees while the rest of the districts have been completely overlooked, said Talpur, who added that, “It seems as if these districts are not even a part of the province.”

“Six union councils in Thatta are suffering from a severe water shortage and people have been forced to migrate. But the government has yet to implement any scheme in the area,” said Pakistan Muslim League-Q’s (PML-Q) Mohammed Ali Malkani.

“It seems as if the budget has been earmarked for only two per cent of the people of Sindh,” said MQM’s Bilqees Mukhtar, adding that the house was not taken into confidence before preparing the budget.

Funds for schemes should be monitored to see if the money is being utilised properly, said PPP’s Humera Alwani.

Sindh contributes the most to the country’s revenue, which amounts to Rs320 million, she said, adding that the government should allocate a Rs16 million package solely for Karachi.

Only 1.7 million people, out of a population of 170 million, are paying takes, said MQM’s Zareen Majeed, claiming this to be the reason why the government was unable to address people’s problems.

“We should not be happy with the budget. We faced a Rs16 billion deficit last year, which has increased to Rs25 billion this year,” said Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Nadeem Maqbool, who proposed that direct taxes should be imposed on people who earn around Rs300,000.

While he appreciated the government’s decision to discuss budget proposals with the SA standing committees, Maqbool said that the committees are powerless and cannot implement their decisions.

“Schemes are not included in the ADP, despite recommendations by the chief minister as well as the standing committees,” said PPP’s Nadeem Bhutto, who added that the department of planning and development deliberately creates hurdles in projects.

NFC Award

While Talpur appreciated the government’s efforts in advocating for the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, he believed that its implementation will not be easy.

While Sindh contributes 57 per cent to the country’s tax collection through services, the federal government allocates only 23 per cent of the overall finances to the province, said Talpur.

“Recently, literature has been published by the federal ministry of finance, in which Sindh’s share has been termed as ‘provisional’ in the collection and distribution of sales taxes,” he said.

Roads

Three billion rupees, out of Rs12.7 billion that were earmarked as “block allocation” (funds to be allocated for any worthy scheme), should be used for the development of roads, said MQM’s Khalid Ahmed, who is also the chairman of the SA standing committee on roads. Ahmed said that while 527 schemes were included in the Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2010, most of the schemes that had been recommended by the standing committee on roads could not be included.

“I think that the budget has been prepared by the bureaucrats in the room,” he said, while explaining how 161 schemes had been proposed solely for Khairpur.

Health and education

“The government plans to launch new schools, but what will happen to those schools that have been abandoned and their staff left unchecked?” asked Pakistan Muslim League-F’s (PML-F) Rafique Banbhan.

“There are no records regarding who has the money or if it was utilised in the past,” he said, adding that there is also a lack of basic health centres in almost all the districts.

PPP’s Jam Tamachi said that he failed to understand how targets could not be achieved, despite allocating innumerable funds to the education, works and services, health, irrigation and home sectors.

Institutions do not function properly because there is political interference in everything, said Tamachi, adding that “the system of status quo has not changed”.

PPP’s Shamim Ara Panhwar, however, appreciated all the schemes outlined in the budget and said that the government is following the manifesto of the PPP in providing more than 50,000 jobs, along with houses, health cards and land to farmers.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2010.