Finance minister dismisses budget criticism

Punjab PA approves 10 demands for grant, rejects 5 cut motions

LAHORE:

Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman concluded the general debate on the provincial budget on Wednesday, rejecting the opposition's claims that it was merely a "game of statistics", development funds had gone unutilised and corruption had increased.

Addressing the provincial assembly after a five-day budget debate, the minister said the opposition had focused more on political speeches than the budget and had presented incorrect figures regarding key development projects.

The assembly approved 10 demands for grant worth Rs270.53 billion for key departments, including health, education, police and communications, while rejecting five cut motions moved by the opposition during the budget session.

The finance minister also cited previous budget figures to argue that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) governments had consistently maintained better development spending than their predecessors.

Responding to allegations of inflated allocations, Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said Rs196 billion had been earmarked for Nawaz Sharif Medical City, not Rs1.6 trillion as claimed by the opposition, while Rs50 billion, not Rs502 billion, had been allocated for sports city.

The finance minister announced that Rs556 billion had been allocated for South Punjab, covering 387 development schemes, including Rs38 billion for projects in the riverine (Katcha) areas.

Highlighting social welfare initiatives, he said the government had allocated Rs29 billion for the Health Card programme, insisting that it had been improved rather than discontinued.

He added that Rs12.6 billion had been earmarked for the Kissan Card programme, Rs5 billion for Dhee Rani and Rs300 million for the Artist Card initiative.

Rejecting allegations of corruption, the minister said the government itself had detected and acted against irregularities in the Suthra Punjab programme. Referring to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, he claimed Pakistan had improved from 140th position during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to 136th in 2025, while the country's ranking had improved from 127th to 117th during the PML-N government between 2013 and 2017.