–PPP’s Khursheed Shah wants govt to allocate 15 per cent PSDP funding for dams
–PML-N’s Dastgir seeks subsidy for the agri sector
–PTI MPs hail budget as ‘poor-friendly’
ISLAMABAD: The debate on federal budget continued on Friday wherein opposition lawmakers criticised the finance bill for not being people-friendly whereas the lawmakers from the treasury benches reposed confidence in the Imran Khan-led government and the measures taken in the budget.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former National Assembly opposition leader Khursheed Shah on Friday urged the government to allocate at least 15 per cent of the Public Sector Development Programme spending for the construction of dams in the country in order to cope with the impending water scarcity.
During the debate in the National Assembly over the federal budget, the PPP leader criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for low allocation of funds to the dams, saying his party would support the budget if the said amount is allocated.
The statement, however, doesn’t reflect the party’s stance, as per Khursheed.
“This will not be PTI’s decision, this will be the decision of the masses, of this parliament and we (opposition) will appreciate you,” said Khursheed.
He said even if the government allocates the required amount for dam building, it will take at least a decade for their construction.
He criticised former chief justice Saqib Nisar for his dam campaign as well. He said the former CJ’s campaign for dam building collected Rs10bn while Rs11bn was spent on its advertisement.
“This is cheap popularity,” he added.
In his further criticism on budget, Khursheed demanded more money for education sector, linking illiteracy to poor health conditions in the country. Besides education, the lawmaker urged an increase in health budget as well.
“The government reduced education budget to Rs97bn to Rs77bn, whereas the health budget was reduced to Rs60bn from Rs98bn,” he said.
He said that he had welcomed government’s announcement that it would build 50 million houses for the poor as previous budgets did not have any funds allocated to housing.
“You want to give loans [for housing] to 300,000 poor people. Poor people are those who are included in Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), who earn Rs5,000 or less… How will a person [with this income] return the loans? We thought that the people listed in BISP will be the ones who would be given houses but we did not see anything like that.”
Recalling the PPP government’s past performance, he said the PPP government devised a prudent strategy under which petroleum prices were not allowed to increase, faced the issue of terrorism, maintained dollar price against Pakistani rupee, strengthened the agriculture sector and gave due share to provinces under National Finance Commission (NFC) award in a democratic way.
He ended his speech with an advice to politicians that they shouldn’t rely on falsehood to bag votes like Imran Khan’s government.
He said the prime minister went back on several promises he made: he had said he won’t approach the International Monetary Fund, but he did.
According to Khursheed, Imran had said he will not devalue the currency, will not increase prices of petrol and electricity, will not extend the hand of friendship to India and will not announce a tax amnesty scheme, while the facts speak otherwise.
Criticising the budget, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Khuram Dastgeer claimed that there were no incentives for farmers and growers in the current budget, seeking subsidy for the agri sector.
He also urged the government to put a cap on inflation, saying that it should take measures for addressing the genuine issues of people.
Another PML-N MP expressed concerns over the country’s economic team and sought details of conditions agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $6 billion loan. He also criticised the Rs5.5 trillion revenue target set by the government in the budget, calling it ‘unrealistic’.
An independent MNA from Balochistan, Aslam Bhootani, asked for a formulation of an effective strategy to meet the electricity needs of the port city of Gwadar –a jewel in China-Pakistan Corridor Project.
He also mentioned the recent locust attack in Balochistan and Sindh. He said locust had played havoc in different areas of the province, including Lasbela, Turbat and Gwadar.
Defending the federal budget, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul said it was a gift for “destitute segments of society as huge amount had been allocated for improving their living standard”.
Taking part in the budget, she thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for allocating Rs7.8bn for handling climate change and calamities. She said funds had been allocated for far-flung areas of south Punjab, including the Saraiki belt.
PTI’s Fazal Muhammad Khan said Charsadda was the only district which had no gas transmission line, adding that now a company was preparing to finance the pipeline for which the government cooperation was needed.
He said there was also need for constructing a flash-flood protection wall in Charsadda due to its location in the plain area.
