Punjab Assembly: PML-Q submits two adjournment motions
Party wants to discuss Punjab’s whopping loan from State Bank.
LAHORE:
Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid on Friday submitted two adjournment motions to the Punjab Assembly secretariat; one seeking a discussion on the Punjab government’s Rs41 billion ‘loan’ from the State Bank and the other condemning the police violence against protesting nurses.
PML-Q’s Sardar Mohsin Khan Leghari submitted the adjournment motions.
Through the first motion Leghari demanded that the House, during its next session that is expected to be summoned after Muharram 10, discuss the loan that Punjab government had obtained from the State Bank. He said in the motion that the province has failed to meet its revenue target and increased interest of debt services.
Leghari, while talking with The Express Tribune, said that according to a State Bank report, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had borrowed Rs56 billion from the bank in five months. Among the provinces, the Punjab alone had borrowed Rs41 billion.
The Punjab government had set a target of Rs89 billion for itself as provincial tax revenue.
“It is alarming that the Punjab government has not been able to achieve its tax revenue target, even though it was so small,” he said.
Leghari said that the provincial government’s overall debt in June 2010 stood at Rs485 billion which had increased to Rs492 in June 2011.
A spokesman of Finance Department said that provincial governments did not ‘borrow’ funds from the State Bank of Pakistan to finance their expenditures. The provinces are only allowed an overdraft facility in accordance with State Bank Act, 1956, he said.
The State bank allows overdraft limits to all provinces in order to help them manage their payments. He said that the limit for each province was fixed and was equivalent to its pay and pension cost for a period of six months.
The second adjournment motion condemned the Punjab police baton charging nurses who were protesting against low wages.
Leghari said that the PML-Q would support the nurses’ demands.
The chief minister on Friday constituted a committee to resolve the nurses’ demands.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2011.
Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid on Friday submitted two adjournment motions to the Punjab Assembly secretariat; one seeking a discussion on the Punjab government’s Rs41 billion ‘loan’ from the State Bank and the other condemning the police violence against protesting nurses.
PML-Q’s Sardar Mohsin Khan Leghari submitted the adjournment motions.
Through the first motion Leghari demanded that the House, during its next session that is expected to be summoned after Muharram 10, discuss the loan that Punjab government had obtained from the State Bank. He said in the motion that the province has failed to meet its revenue target and increased interest of debt services.
Leghari, while talking with The Express Tribune, said that according to a State Bank report, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had borrowed Rs56 billion from the bank in five months. Among the provinces, the Punjab alone had borrowed Rs41 billion.
The Punjab government had set a target of Rs89 billion for itself as provincial tax revenue.
“It is alarming that the Punjab government has not been able to achieve its tax revenue target, even though it was so small,” he said.
Leghari said that the provincial government’s overall debt in June 2010 stood at Rs485 billion which had increased to Rs492 in June 2011.
A spokesman of Finance Department said that provincial governments did not ‘borrow’ funds from the State Bank of Pakistan to finance their expenditures. The provinces are only allowed an overdraft facility in accordance with State Bank Act, 1956, he said.
The State bank allows overdraft limits to all provinces in order to help them manage their payments. He said that the limit for each province was fixed and was equivalent to its pay and pension cost for a period of six months.
The second adjournment motion condemned the Punjab police baton charging nurses who were protesting against low wages.
Leghari said that the PML-Q would support the nurses’ demands.
The chief minister on Friday constituted a committee to resolve the nurses’ demands.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2011.