Provincial Finance Minister Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha said Thursday that Leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed gave an excellent suggestion of consulting the standing committees of the Punjab Assembly in the process of budget making, ensuring the house that these committees will be involved in the process.
“It is a very good sign that our lawmakers showed great enthusiasm in the pre-budget discussion, as 65 members—both from the treasury and opposition benches—participated in the discussion that lasted for five days; I assure them that their suggestions will be incorporated in the budget formulation,” finance minister said while winding up her pre-budget speech during the ongoing session of Punjab Assembly.
Dr Pasha, who herself is an economist, remained present along with the staff of her department in the house listening the concerns of the lawmakers that they showed in their speeches demanding uplift schemes for their constituencies in the upcoming budget that is expected in June. “After listening to the speeches of lawmakers, the finance department will prepare the budget by prioritising the education, health and law and order,” she said. Primary and technical education will be given more attention in the budget as it was demanded by almost all the MPAs in their speeches, she said.
Dr Pasha also refuted the claim of the leader of the opposition that he made last day, in which he said that the financial condition of the Punjab government is worst than 2008 as the province was in surplus with Rs100 billion at that time, but now the province is in deficit with billions of debt. “The debt-to-GDP ratio is the tool to measure the situation of debt, according to the international standards, and this ratio has been decreased significantly in comparison with 2008,” she said. “I assure this august house that the upcoming budget of Punjab will be progressive in nature and it will definitely be a people-friendly budget.”
Earlier in the day, PTI lawmaker Ahmed Khan Bhachar said that Rs38 billion of southern Punjab has been re-appropriated and this huge chunk of money was spent on the Orange Line Metro Train of Lahore on the cost of South Punjab’s development. “The people of my constituency are drinking unhygienic water and government did nothing to provide us clean drinking water,” Bhachar said, who got elected from district Mianwali. Only two billion was spent on the Saaf Paani Project, despite the fact that Rs30 billion were earmarked for this project in the last budget, he added.
A ruling party MPA from district Bahawalpur Kazim Ali Pirzada also lamented the missing facilities of his constituency. “Today, I beg on the behalf of my people. Please, do something for the uplift of my backwards area,” he said dejectedly.
Ghulam Murtaza, Khadija Umar, Dr Murad Rass, Rana Muhammad Arshad, Shunila Ruth and Raheela Anwar also participated in the pre-budget discussion.
Answering a call-attention notice of PPP’s Faiza Malik, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the murder of PPP’s worker Babar Butt was not a political murder but the issue is being politicised by some quarters. “It was a murder due to an old enmity and the culprits will be arrested soon as a high-level committee has been formed under the officer of the rank of DIG,” law minister said. “MNA Sohail Shaukat has recorded his statement to the police and he will also be called again if required by the police investigation.”
In the question hour, Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Sheikh Alauddin gave answers related to his department and claimed that two million youth will be imparted technical education by the year 2018. Moreover, Parliamentary Secretary for Cooperatives Khawaja Muhammad Waseem also gave answers related to his department.
