Opposition flays govt for ignoring schools in Punjab

LAHORE: The opposition in Punjab Assembly on Wednesday, third day of the post-budget 2015-16 discussion, continued its criticism against the government for increasing the spending on CM Secretariat and VIP security, lack of funds for missing facilities in government schools, lapses in development spending, and poor condition of farmers in the province.
PTI MPA from Mianwali Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar in his post-budget speech stated that despite the huge amounts of taxpayers’ money allocated for Punjab police and law enforcement, the thana culture remained unreformed and crime rate is increasing day by day. He echoed earlier criticism by PTI MPAs on the unfair treatment of opposition members in distribution of development funds in Punjab and claimed that losing candidates of PML-N in many districts were favoured by DCOs against the law. Bhachar also criticised the government for not allocating adequate funds for agriculture under the current budget.
PTI MPA Saadia Sohail claimed that 6,000 schools in Punjab lacked boundary walls in spite of the threat of terrorist attacks and the development budget of the previous fiscal year had unfortunately lapsed. The MPA also expressed her frustration over the deteriorating state of farmers in Punjab and Rs730 million allocated for the maintenance of Chief Minister Secretariat and residences registered as CM Houses in the budget.
PML-N MPA Advocate Malik Ahmed Khan, meanwhile, termed the Punjab Annual Budget 2015-16 balanced and a blessing for the public of the populous province. He claimed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country was increasing under the Federal and Punjab governments. Also praising the government, PML-N MPA Madiha Rana praised the increases in the budget allocations for health and education.