Opposition rejects budget, pledges shadow version for poor

The Opposition in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday rejected the provincial government's proposed budget for fiscal year 2025-26, pledging instead to present a "shadow budget" that they claim will reflect the real needs of the poor and underserved.

As Opposition Leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar began his opening speech during the general discussion on the annual budget, the House quickly descended into chaos.

Treasury members interrupted the session with loud protests, prompting an equally noisy response from the Opposition benches.

In his address, Bhachar questioned the rationale behind increasing the development budget to Rs1,240 billion when no new development projects were included in the list.

He highlighted that the previous year's development budget stood at Rs842 billion, yet there remains no transparency about how or where those funds were utilized.

"Where did the last budget go? There's no audit, no accountability, and now they want even more money without a single new project," Bhachar said, accusing the government of corruption in several of its flagship initiatives, including tree-planting drives and model bazaars.

He criticized the increased allocation for education, pointing out that 25,000 of Punjab's 49,000 government schools have been outsourced, and more than 7 million children remain out of school. "The state of public schools is there for everyone to see, and outsourcing is not a solution," he added.