‘Budget is anti-people, anti-poor, anti-labourer’

Minister censures Centre for not prioritising issues such as pandemic, locust control

KARACHI: Picking holes in the budget announced by the federal government for the upcoming fiscal year, Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah slammed the Centre on Saturday for presenting a plan that was "anti-people, anti-poor and anti-labourers."

Saying that the budget offered no relief for the common man and instead favoured the rich and the elite, he rejected it outright, calling the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government out for "another one of its failures."

"The government has faltered at giving any importance in the budget to myriad threats faced by the country," he said. "It is the need of the hour to take immediate steps towards curbing the spread of the coronavirus, but the pandemic remains largely unaddressed in the budget."

He noted that the budget excluded any provisions for health workers and faulted the federal government for not announcing separate health packages for all provinces, in a bid to better deal with the pandemic.

Moreover, he complained about the Centre ignoring the agriculture sector in the budget, despite a large part of the country's economy relying on it.

Expressing concern over the "federal government not outlining a clear policy for locust control in the budget," he feared that Centre's nonchalance could result in the problem flaring up, making it a bigger challenge than the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the minister, the Centre had committed to carrying out aerial spraying for locust control across the country in March, but no progress was made in this regard yet.

"As a consequence, farmers are left out in the cold, as they helplessly witness their crops getting destroyed by locusts," he claimed.

He also regretted that while the budget offered little for construction workers, it presented multiple incentives for construction sector big-wigs and rich businessmen.

The information minister further raised questions over the government announcing no increase in the pension of government employees, despite the consistent uptick in inflation.

Moreover, he censured the Centre for not focusing on employment creation and other incentives for the youth in the budget, but instead, preferring to offering subsidies for pharmaceutical companies.

Voicing his rejection of the budget, he claimed that the federal government would soon feel compelled to announce a mini-budget or supplementary budget, terming the current one a plan jointly chalked out by the PTI and International Monetary Fund that went against people's welfare. He lambasted the PTI for "reneging on all promises it made prior to coming into power."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2020.