Budget debate in assembly: PPP leader says PTI govt pushed KP under huge loans

PESHAWAR: Parliamentary party leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Ahmad Karim Kundi on Wednesday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government pushed the province into huge debt during the last 12 years.

Participating in the general debate on the annual budget for 2025-26, he said the PTI did not execute any development work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the last 12 years. However, he lauded the Pervez Khattak government that completed the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Peshawar and the Swat Expressway.

“The law and order has worsened during the present government,” the PPP MPA said and added that the home district, the chief minister and the governor had been in the grip of militants over the last two years.

Ahmad Karim Kundi asked the government to secure Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s share in the national resources and under NFC Award, royalty on oil and gas, arrears of the net hydel profit, share and profit of the river water under Indus River System Authority (IRSA) and province share in the Central Excise Duty on tobacco.

“The PTI-led government has failed to defend and secure provincial rights and its due shares when the party was in power in the Centre and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said and added that the province had been facing prolonged and unscheduled electricity loadshedding for many years.

The PPP parliamentary party leader claimed the annual budget for the next financial year was a deficit one, but it was shown as surplus through false figures.He asked the government to raise the issue of provincial rights and shares in the upcoming NFC Award and Council of Common Interests (CCI), adding that the opposition parties would fully support the provincial government.

Adviser to Chief Minister on Finance Muzzammil Aslam said the PTI government strongly took up the net hydel profit case with the federal government and received about Rs36 billion. “We would also raise our voice for our resources and rights in the upcoming NFC and CCI meeting,” he added.

He claimed that about Rs 13.30 billion had been allocated for solarization in the merged tribal districts, which were faced with the worst electricity loadshedding.Muzzammil Aslam said the government planned to establish a separate department on the pattern of the National Electric Power Regulator Authority to overcome the energy crisis and regularize the rates of electricity in the province.