Debate in KP Assembly Opposition demands review of budgetary figures

PESHAWAR: Opposition benches in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday rejected the annual budget for 2025-26 and called for a review and correction of the budgetary figures.

The leader of the opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Dr Ibadullah Khan, who is also the parliamentary party leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, termed the budget a “deficit” one that had been declared as surplus by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

“We reject the budgetary figures and demand a review, changes and corrections in the exaggerated and imaginary figures shown as revenue estimates for the next financial year,” he said during the general debate on the annual budget presented in the provincial assembly on June 13.

Dr Ibadullah said that several provincial ministers, including the adviser to the chief minister on finance, claimed that the federal government had allocated Rs550 million for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), whereas the actual amount was Rs538 billion.

He said the KP government failed to implement PSDP projects during the current fiscal year, which led to a reduction in the province’s share for the next financial year by the federal government.

Dr Ibad added that KP generated only about 7 percent of its resources, while a large portion of its revenue came from the federal resources or foreign-funded projects.“I don’t understand why the PTI government has shown its revenue in surplus when most of the funding comes from the federal government,” he said.

He claimed the cash-strapped province had been pushed into huge debt, saying “In 2013, KP had a debt of Rs150 billion but it has now increased to Rs800 billion over the past last 12 years.”

Dr Ibad criticized the PTI for mismanagement and corruption during its 12-year rule in the province, citing scandals in BRT Peshawar, Malam Jabba, and the Billion Tree Tsunami Project.

He said PTI came to power promising to eliminate corruption and promote transparency, but major scams emerged during its tenure, including a Rs40 billion scandal in Kohistan.

The opposition leader also claimed that the current government had not constructed a single school or college building in the last one and a half years. He added that public universities and colleges were facing a financial crisis and that the rulers even failed to provide textbooks to government schools in the current academic.

On healthcare, he said the government failed to improve tertiary hospitals, Basic Health Units (BHUs), and Rural Health Centres (RHCs), claiming that 60 percent of BHUs were non-functional.

He also criticized the government for unequal distribution and allocation of developmental funds, stating that underdeveloped districts were ignored.

Adnan Wazir of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) also expressed concerns over discrepancies in figures between the budget document and the whitepaper, claiming the revenue targets were exaggerated and inconsistent.

He acknowledged that KP received its due share in the federal divisible pool, net hydel profits, and other transfers, but alleged the government failed to utilize those funds for development.

In response, PTI lawmakers, including Munir Hussain Laghmani, Rajab Ali Abbasi, and Adeel Iqbal, defended the budget, calling it public-friendly, surplus, and tax-free. They said that adequate allocations were made for health, education and social welfare projects.The session was adjourned until Tuesday afternoon.