Treasury benches members complain of injustice in budget

Budget discussion in KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: Dissent was once again witnessed in the ranks of PTI legislators of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly as one member of the provincial cabinet not only complained of injustice to his constituency but four others also staged walk-out from the house after the speaker disallowed them floor of the house.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Friday resumed debate on the annual budget for financial year 2016-17 with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair. The opposition legislators participated on the second day of debate on budget were included Hussain Babak of ANP, Sanaullah Syed, Sardar Hussain and Fakhar e Azam of PPP, Raja Faisal Zaman of PML-N and Mufti Fazal Ghafoor of JUI-F while their questions were responded by senior minister for local governments and rural development Inayatullah Khan and Education Minister Atif Khan.

Though the opposition legislators in their speeches criticized provincial government for cut in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) and receipts in heads of taxes and non-taxes, the astonishing matter was the hard-hitting speech of a treasury bench legislator Shakeel Khan, PTI MPA from Malakand and special assistant to CM on population welfare.

He came hard on the budget and concentrating of funds on the four districts of Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi and Dir. He said poverty and other problems are not limited to only four districts rather Shangla, Kohistan and Malakand are also poor districts.

He complained that as compared to four districts, Malakand is allocated meager funds for development in all sectors.He demanded that constituencies ignored in past should be granted maximum development funds. He said people of province had voted PTI into power in KP for bringing change and eradication of corruption.

He said though reforms and health and education sectors are in progress steps in head of accountability are still awaited. The special assistant said the top offices of both anti-graft agencies including the post of the Director General Ehtesab Commission and Anti Corruption Establishment are vacant.

He gave an ultimatum of two months to the provincial government for starting accountability process. Otherwise, he said, after expiry of the deadline, he will be left with no justification to remain in the provincial cabinet.

In response to speech of Hussain Babak, Atif Khan said for first time in the history of the province private sector is being involved in the hydel power generation sector. He said private investors are going to invest Rs 1.5 billion for installation of hydel projects with the capacity of generating 518MW electricity.

He also clarified the situation about the converting of Maktab Schools and establishment of smart schools in the province. He said smart schools will be pre-fabricated and economical as compared to construction of buildings. He also dispelled the impression regarding the awarding of the contract of the schools to any supporter of PTI. The contract will be given through open tendering and all members will be invited to participate. In case of any complaint, the contracts will be cancelled, he assured.

After the speech of the Maulana Fazal Ghafoor, Yasin Khalil and Qurban Ali of the PTI also attempted to take the floor. But the speaker disallowed them which prompted them to stage walk out of the house. The legislators of the joint opposition also joined the PTI legislators in their protest and walk out from the proceedings of the house.