The opposition in the Punjab Assembly grilled the provincial government for spending over Rs 87.439 in excess during the fiscal year 2010-11 and condemned the lavish and undue spending.
During the general discussion on the supplementary budget here on Friday, opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly vehemently opposed supplementary grants in the budget for 2010-2011 and asked for details of how the extra funds were utilised. Taking part in the discussion, opposition legislators said introduction of the supplementary budget had become a permanent feature.
In civilised societies, they said, people disliked supplementary grants. They alleged that the Punjab government overspent without any benefits. The uproar during the debate on the supplementary budget forced Speaker Iqbal Ahmed Khan to say that assembly rules and decorum must be respected, and recommended training sessions for legislators on how to behave in the assembly.
One of the legislators, commenting on the behaviour of the MPAs, decried the perception that if someone was sitting in a vehicle with a flag, everything was fair for them. The speaker eventually had the microphones of some of the rowdier MPs turned off when they refused to behave after repeated warnings. The session was chaired by Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan and quickly descended into chaos when a treasury MPA Sakina Shaheen criticised the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and claimed that had documentary and video proof of embezzlements in the programme, which she said she would present to the House.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPAs Sajida Mir, Amna Butter, Begum Sagira Islam and Neelam Jabber asked Shaheen to avoid criticising their party’s leadership and Benazir Bhutto. Mir said today Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif was in Pakistan because of Benazir Bhutto, but Shaheen continued with her speech.
The situation worsened when treasury member Rana Arshad jumped into the fray to support Shaheen. PPP lawmakers Javaid Hassan Gujjar and Ehsanul Haq Naulathia drove the attention of the speaker towards the situation, upon which the chair asked both sides to follow the devised rules and understandings. Later, treasury member Sher Ali Gorchani’s said those conspiring to divide Punjab would not succeed in their nefarious designs, a comment that greeted with an outcry from the opposition.
Naulathia pointed out that former chief ministers Nawaz Sharif, Pervaiz Elahi, Hanif Ramay and Ghulam Haider Wyne had set the trend of presenting supplementary budgets. He said out of the Rs 87.43 billion supplementary grants, only Rs 20 billion were spent on legitimate projects while the rest was unaccounted for. He told the House that the Kalma Chowk Flyover project was not included in the budget but, it had been started nonetheless.
Najami Saleem, a PPP minority member, bitterly criticised the meagre budgetary allocation for minorities. She called for minorities’ quota in the Ashiyana Housing Scheme and the Rozgaar Scheme. She also demanded a 5 percent employment quota in government departments. The session was later adjourned till 3pm on Monday.
