The Punjab budget was prepared almost completely bypassing the provincial cabinet, with most of the input coming from loyalists of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, who even stole the spotlight from Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, once known as the strongman of the province, sources in the bureaucracy told Pakistan Today on Wednesday.
Budget-making in Punjab had largely been dominated by the Nawaz camp, with Senator Ishaq Dar and National Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali seen calling the shots, as if the chief minister was taking a back seat, said the sources.
In almost every other budgetary meeting, it was either Dar or Nisar leading the way with Nawaz having the final say, sources claimed. Nawaz also appeared at some meetings wielding a veto right.
“It seems the chief minister had little say in the process or he deliberately kept his involvement minimal. Wastage of resources in projects such as the Sasti Roti Scheme and Food Stamp Scheme – all brainchilds of Shahbaz – seemed to weigh heavily on Nawaz’s mind, forcing him to keep his own men on the forefront while making the budget,” a senior bureaucrat involved in the budget-making said.
The Punjab government had initiated these schemes with a bang, but Shahbaz soon had to face the music from the opposition and among his own party’s ranks for depleting the treasury, forcing the provincial government to go for an overdraft from the State Bank, revealing the financial predicament of the province. The provincial government also had to pick fights with the federal government in order to squeeze out more funds.
Even smaller provinces could not swallow the shrinking of the cake, as Punjab stretched its overdraft limit, raising eyebrows everywhere. Now we seldom hear about those schemes as Punjab moved on to newer ones with price tags running into the billions of rupees, again being criticised by various quarters.
The provincial budget to be presented on June 10 is unique in the sense that the provincial government faced a real dilemma moments before its presentation as to who should read the budget speech because of the absence of any finance or planning minister, showing how little the province’s masters care about the budget and management of its financial affairs.
Normally, the finance minister, along with the planning minister, is engaged in budget making, participating in various meetings months before its completion after the announcement of the federal budget. Here, the Punjab government under the stewardship of the Sharifs stands fully exposed, with Shahbaz struggling to find a suitable person to present the budget just a day before it is supposed to be, let alone having a regular minister for the purpose.
The absence of these ministers also shows how small has been the role of the provincial cabinet and parliament in budget making, as the exercise is totally led by a bureaucracy that is hardly equal to the task.
“It is the most bureaucratic budget that could be compared with the budgets presented by some dictators, prepared in ivory towers,” commented a PML-N leader, requesting not to be named.
There is little activity in the party itself prior to the budget presentation, which is unusual. It is also strange for a political government blowing trumpets of its democratic credentials to ignore the cabinet, and worse yet a government that is without key ministers involved in decision making.
The other day, the CM delivered a pep talk to the provincial cabinet, telling its members what should be their conduct during the budget session while keeping alive the Sharifs’ reputation for keeping things to themselves on all-important matters.
