Rejecting cut motions moved by members of the opposition on Tuesday, the Punjab Assembly approved demands for grants of Rs 101.11 billion for annual budget 2011-12 for Police, Health and Education departments.
The House took up 43 demands for the grant of Rs 218 billion, of which only three – Police with Rs 52.11 billion, Education Rs 25.59 billion and health with Rs 26.40 billion – could be discussed. The remaining 40 government demands for grants would be discussed today (Wednesday). In the session chaired by Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Iqbal Khan, the opposition moved a total six cut motions of which only first three were taken by the House.
The other three are likely to be discussed today (on Wednesday). The movers of the cut motions belonging to opposition parties, the PPP and the PML-Q strongly criticised the poor governance of the PML-N-led government and unclear allocations of budget funds in various sectors. Ch Zaheer, Mohsin Lughari, Amna Ulfat, Makhdoom Irtaza, Amir Sultan Cheema and Samina Khawar Hayyat of the opposition, supporting the cut motion against the large amount allocated for the Police Department said law and order in the province was deteriorating and police had failed to provide protection to the general public so there was no need to allocate such a large amount to the department.
The opposition said the government was increasing the amount for police but not giving attention to the performance of the department. Opposing the cut motion, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah assured the House of proper utilisation of the grants and added that the opposition members had given wrong figures to the House in their speeches. He said the budget for police was not large as 85 percent of the it would be spent on salaries, 4 percent on petrol and four percent on utility bills like electricity, telephones and gas so there is only Rs 4 billion to equip the police with new weapons and for training.
Sanaullah said the department was also implementing the system of reward and punishment and had punished around 59,473 police officials. Addressing the assembly, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif assured the House that his government would make all-out efforts to implement the suggestions given by the opposition. He said incompetent police officers were being removed. In favour of cut motion regarding the health budget, opposition member Dr Samia Amjad said the Punjab government had fixed more than Rs 3.7 billion of the health in the block allocation without mentioning any scheme for it so there was a possibility of corruption.
She also criticised the government and the chief minister for not appointing any minister for health in the province and for avoiding forming the announced healthcare commission. She suggested the government give a “pay package” to doctors and paramedic staff just like the judiciary. Sajid Mir, Chaudhry Zaheer, Muhammad Afzal and Faiza Asghar also addressed the House in favour of reducing the demands of grants for the health sector.
Later, Saeed Elahi, parliamentary health secretary, told the House that his government had regularised 400 doctors as well as improved scales of the 7,000 nurses from grade 14 to grade 17. The House also disapproved the cut motion and passed the demand of grant for health department with majority. The opposition members presented their third cut motion regarding reduction in demand of grant for the Education Department saying the Punjab government had not given a clear policy for the betterment of primary schools.
Seemal Kamran said Shahbaz had given Rs 60 million to an “elite school” and also spending billions of rupees on only 2 percent poor children in the name of Daanish schools. Azma Bukhari said Shahbaz had announced Daanish schools without providing basic facilities to the already established schools in the province. Yousaf Laghari and Nosher Khan Langarryal also spoke on the occasion. Education Minister Mujtaba Shuja said the opposition had criticised the government and its budget but did not give any positive suggestions.
He said his government was providing quality education to children of the province’s 90 million population. He said Punjab has 61,000 schools and only 18,000 lacked facilities. He informed the House that literacy rate in Punjab was 62 percent. He opposed the cut motion and demanded the House pass the grant allocated for the Education Department in the budget for fiscal year 2011-12.
The speaker adjourned the House until today (Wednesday).