Punjab Assembly opposition leader Raja Riaz Ahmed rejected the Punjab budget 2012-13 by saying the Punjab government had failed to provide relief to the common man.
“The allocations for the mega projects are mere eyewash as the government does not have enough funds to accomplish them,” he said.
Opening the budget debate in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday, he said the projects proposed in the budget will not be materialised as the government was facing serious a financial crunch owing to its ill-conceived economic policies.
He alleged that the Punjab budget’s focus is on increasing the “commission” for the PML-N leaders. He said the Punjab government had not allocated a single penny in the budget for the poor people. He asked Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to answer the questions raised about corruption in the laptop scheme.
He vowed that the PPP will protect the rights of the people and the anti-masses budget will not be allowed to be approved in the provincial assembly.
Raja Riaz said the local body elections will not be possible in the presence of Shahbaz Sharif in the province.
The chief minister, he said, was fooling the masses by holding a camp at the Minar-e-Pakistan. He termed the PML-N sponsored resolution about the Seraiki province in the Punjab Assembly a farce, saying they will not establish the new province.
He alleged that the chief minister, under the pretext of the budget, was attempting to buy the votes of the people. Despite the distribution of laptops and taxis, Riaz said Shahbaz will not succeed in gathering the support of the people.
PML-N’s Shoukat Aziz Bhatti speaking in favour of the budget, felicitated Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman for presenting an excellent budget. He said the government, by presenting the Aashiana Housing Scheme, the Danish Schools and the Yellow Cab schemes, has won the hearts of the people. He said the PML-N was gaining popularity among the people.
Zafar Zulqarnain Sahi of the opposition said the opposition had proved they were democratic by behaving well during the finance minister’s budget speech.
Former Punjab Finance minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira dubbed the Punjab Budget a fraud which the chief minister was committing with the people. He said the Punjab government obtained an extra amount of Rs 125 billion from National Finance Commission (NFC) but owing to mismanagement, the funds were misused or were lapsed.
Unification bloc member Sheikh Alaud Din termed the budget tax-free and people-welfare oriented. He made various suggestions for putting the province on the road to prosperity through the fair implementation of the projects envisaged in the budget.
Tuesday’s session commenced after a delay of over an hour with Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan in the chair.
