Opposition scoffs budget, terms it a jugglery of words

PML-N's Humayun Khan claims the CM misguided the lawmakers in his speech.

KARACHI:

Opposition parties in the provincial assembly have termed the budget a jugglery of words, expressing concerns that it will not provide relief to the common man.

"The government cannot even run a school properly and it is planning to establish more universities," mocked Shahrayar Mahar, the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly. "They must improve the utilisation of existing resources, rather than creating opportunities to appoint more incompetent people."

Mahar, who is affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional, counted a number of mega-projects that are currently in doldrums. "The job does not end with the allocation of a budget," he stressed, adding that the government must also monitor the progress of the projects. He questioned whether the Rs131 billion budget for education would restore the approximately 7,000 ghost schools in the province.



The opposition leader lamented that billions of rupees had been spent on the Thar coal project but no tangible results had been obtained even after the Pakistan Peoples Party had completed its five-year tenure in both the federal and provincial governments. According to Mahar, the provincial government has violated the rules of the provincial assembly by not consulting the opposition parties regarding the budget. ""Rule 143 clearly says that the government should consult the opposition three months before presenting the budget but this never happened."

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Syed Hafeezuddin decried the decision to impose more taxes on motorcycle owners and residential plots measuring 120 square yards. "People are already suffering due to inflation and the government has imposed new taxes," he said, terming the budget unrealistic and a jugglery of words. He added that a 10 per cent increase in salaries would not be a substitute to the hike in prices of essential commodities.

Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz MPA Humayun Khan was of the view that the chief minister had misguided the lawmakers and the August house. "The CM, in his speech, claimed they have completed schemes which we all know have been in doldrums for the last many years," he said, adding that there was nothing new in the budget that can benefit the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2014.