Opposition censured as Murad winds up eight-day budget debate

Winding up the lengthy general discussion on the Sindh government’s budget for the next financial year, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah subjected the opposition to harsh criticism during his speech in the provincial assembly on Tuesday.

The PA also passed through majority vote the supplementary budget of the provincial administration for the current financial year with a volume of more than Rs1 trillion.

CM Shah told the House that the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) rule in the past five years has ensured development on a uniform basis in both rural and urban parts of the province. He said people have repeatedly given the PPP the mandate to rule in the province, adding that the party will once again win the general elections later this year and form the next government in the province as well.

The chief executive said that during the past five years his government has done a lot of work, because of which the PPP has been able to defeat its opponents in every by-election in the province.

The general discussion on the provincial administration’s budget for 2018-19 took eight days to conclude and saw the participation of over 70 legislators from both the treasury and opposition benches.

During his speech on Tuesday that ran for almost two and a half hours, the CM informed the House about development works carried out from Karachi to Kashmore. He also censured the opponent political forces attempting to create a new province in Sindh. He rejected the opposition’s allegation that his government has virtually divided the province into two, saying that all of Sindh belongs to him.

He criticised the opposition, especially the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, and also mentioned PA opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan several times in view of his three-hour-long budget speech a day earlier.

Shah said that usually five days are allotted for holding a general discussion on the next budget, but the debate continued for eight days, which shows his government’s commitment to freedom of expression.

“The debate continued for eight days, but criticism against us remained incessant. God willing, we shall again be given the opportunity to serve the masses and present the next budget,” he said while referring to the criticism by opposition legislators against the provincial government during their speeches in the House.

The CM said that at the federal level it is the National Economic Council that approves the federal budget, but Sindh has been subjected to highhandedness in the council’s meeting for the purpose.

“Of the Rs400 billion we were supposed to get for new schemes, we were given Rs150 billion; of the Rs27 billion for water projects, we got Rs330 million and of the Rs26 billion for energy projects, we received Rs125 million.”

He said that in the current financial year some 721 development schemes will be completed by the Sindh government, adding that of the 2,726 ongoing development projects, some 958 will be completed in the new financial year.

He refuted the opposition leader’s claim that the Sindh government has spent Rs1.5 trillion as development budget in the past five years, saying that since the financial year 2008-09 the provincial administration has spent a total of Rs833 billion as development budget.

Regarding the opposition leader’s criticism on “undue” proportion of indirect taxes, he said indirect taxes are levied all over the world, adding that collection of indirect taxes in the province has been affected due to land transfers and related issues.

Shah said his government has constructed the Jhirk-Mulla Katiar Bridge, which is the longest bridge ever constructed on the Indus River, adding that the Sindh administration completed the construction of Sujawal Bridge within 16 months.

He said Sindh has become the first province to lay its very own transmission line for evacuating electricity from the provincial government’s first 100MW power project at Nooriabad, adding that his government has managed to produce inexpensive electricity, which is now being supplied to the K-Electric.

The CM said Sindh has been producing 915MW of renewable energy from wind power, adding that 1,000MW more of clean energy through similar means could have easily been generated in the province if the federal government had supported the province.

He said his government has ensured the construction of Thar’s first airport to support the ongoing project of power and coal mining in the desert area, adding that his administration has also contributed to the establishment of the Thar Foundation for poor and uneducated locals.

As regards the health sector, he said satellite centres of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases have been established across the province, adding that regional blood centres have also been set up, while specialised children wards are being established at hospitals in Sukkur, Hyderabad, Larkana and other cities.

He said special wards for children have also been established at the National Institute of Child Health, the Lyari General Hospital, the Civil Hospital Karachi and health facilities in New Karachi and Korangi.

He listed a number of development projects completed in Karachi by his government: Jahangir Park, the Drigh Road Underpass, the Manzil Pump Flyover, Tariq Road, University Road, Sharea Faisal and the roads connecting to the Karachi Cantonment Railway Station.  

Law and order

CM Shah said the Sindh government has been credited with the restoration of peace in the province. “The credit also goes to the people of Karachi who have demonstrated courage in combating terrorism. We are answerable to the people of Sindh for the law and order situation.”

He said that with the grace of God, the entire previous year had remained peaceful except one incident: the bomb blast at Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine in Sehwan on February 16.

“The reign of terror was at its extreme five years ago. We enabled Karachi’s people to come out of this environment of fear,” said the CM while referring to the final match of the Pakistan Super League’s third edition, the Pakistan International Film Festival and other events that were organised in the city.

Supplementary budget

The PA passed through majority vote the supplementary budget of the Sindh government for the current financial year 2017-18 with a volume of more than Rs1 trillion.

The assembly session was presided over by Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani. CM Shah, who holds the additional portfolio of the finance department, presented the supplementary budget in the House for approval.

All of the 23 cut motions moved by different opposition legislators on the supplementary budget were rejected through majority vote. The total volume of the supplementary budget is Rs1,010,065,398,000.

A spokesman for the CM said that with the passage of the supplementary budget, the House also granted the authorisation required by the provincial government, including the incoming caretaker set-up, to spend the new budget (with a volume of Rs1,144,448,000,000) for the first three months of the new financial year.