LAHORE: The opposition in the Punjab Assembly failed to create any hindrance in treasury’s way to approve demands for grant worth over Rs 1.824 trillion for the fiscal year 2019-20 which were approved within one hour on Tuesday.
The Punjab government claims that technically, it has passed the budget and the process will be completed on Wednesday (today) after the passage of Finance Bill. Minister for Law, Local Government and Parliamentary Affairs Basharat Raja talking to the media claimed that for the first time in the history of the Punjab Assembly, 43 demands for grant were approved by the House within one hour. He said when the budget session commenced, the opposition had challenged that it wouldn’t let the government pass the budget. He said at that time, the government had claimed that it had the majority in the House and the budget would be passed easily by the government.
The law minister said the budget was as per the aspirations of people, adding that it had also happened for the first time that the opposition could hold debate on only three cut motions and despite claims couldn’t block the passage of budget. He said the opposition wanted redressal of its own issues. In the past, the opposition leaders had even spoken over budget for two days but this time the opposition had nothing to say over it. The law minister said it was the first budget of the PTI government that was prepared in crucial circumstances just because of the incompetence of the previous government. He said that due to the sagacity of Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar and an effective strategy by the Punjab cabinet, the opposition suffered a humiliating defeat. He claimed that the coming days would bring prosperity and financial strength in Punjab.
Earlier, in the PA session, the cut motions proposed by the opposition were rejected. Buzdar also attended the session, though he wasn’t seen much in the assembly after June 14 when the Punjab government had presented the budget. Throughout the session, Law Minister Raja Basharat remained the key figure of the government, who actively responded to the queries and criticism of the opposition.
During the speech of PPPP Parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza, the House witnessed uproar and the chair ordered to expunge his objectionable remarks from the proceedings. Murtaza, while grilling the PTI government, stated that it hadn’t provided any relief to farmers in the budget and demanded immediate subsidy for people associated to agriculture. He demanded setting up of a Parliamentary Committee to probe the incidents related to registration of cases against farmers.
Malik Nauman Langrial, minister for Agriculture, while speaking on the floor of the PA, stated that the agriculture sector was on the right track now.