Punjab Assembly: ‘Opposition took least interest in budget debate’

Minister says of 56 opposition members, only 24 took part in discussion of the budget.

LAHORE:

Winding up discussion on the provincial budget for 2014-15, Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman on Thursday slammed the opposition for their poor participation in the debate.

Of the 56 opposition members in the assembly, only five attended the debate on the first day of the discussion, the minister told the House.

He said only 19 opposition members took part in the proceedings on the last day of the debate on Thursday after the speaker had extended the session’s time.

“I have never seen such callousness during 12 years of my political career. The opposition has breached the sanctity of the House.”

Rehman said none of the opposition member had come up with a proposal that could be incorporated in the budget.



He said the government had arranged a four-day pre-budget session but the opposition boycotted that too on two days.

The minister said the government had allocated a handsome amount for the uplift of health, education and agricultural sectors. He said the government had increased the annual development budget by 19 per cent.

He said Rs329 million had been reserved to run the newly constructed schools. He said more doctors, paramedical staff and 3,000 nurses would be recruited for new hospitals. Rs143 billion has been allocated for the purpose.

Rehman said schoolchildren would be provided free books at a cost of Rs3 billion.

He said utilisation of the last year’s development budget had been satisfactory; funds for the Metro Bus Service, a cardiology institute in Rawalpindi and a Solar Power Park were spent in a transparent manner.

The minister accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of concealing the expenditures on the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in the province’s annual development budget.



He said a former Punjab chief minister had spent Rs400 million from his discretionary funds but did not keep any record of it.

Rehman said the government planned to construct kidney transplant hospitals in several cities.

He said the government had imposed an “education emergency” in the province. Rs28 billion has been earmarked for school education, Rs14 billion for higher education and Rs2 billion for literacy and information education, he said.

The minister said Rs31 billion had been allocated for the energy sector. He said a 100-megawatt solar power project would be set up in Bahawalpur while China would help set up a 1,320MW coal-fired plant in Sahiwal.

He said Rs1.50 billion had been reserved for Ashiana Housing Scheme and Rs1.25 billion for setting up IT labs in schools. He said the government had allocated Rs7 billion for school councils in 18 districts.

Rehman said Rs1 billion had been earmarked for the provision of free medicines, Rs2 billion for dealing with contagious disease and Rs1.22 billion for building a burn unit at Jinnah Hospital in Lahore.

He said Rs30 billion had been reserved for the provision of potable water – Rs5 billion would be spent on setting up water filtration plants in 30 districts.

The minister said Rs520 million had been allocated for minorities.

The opposition also pointed out the lack of quorum on part of treasury benches.

The speaker later adjourned the session until Friday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2014.