Budget debate begins in KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly started debate on the budget 2015-16 here on Thursday as the opposition stayed away from the session to mark protest.However, one of the opposition parties, the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), attended the session and took part in the debate.
Parliamentary leader of the QWP, Sikandar Sherpao, said it was a deficit budget of about Rs93 billion. “Getting the Rs51 billion arrears on account of net hydel-generation profit due to the province, Rs17 billion as annual hydel net after de-capping the Rs6 billion profit and another amount of Rs15 billion, Rs14 billion and Rs2 billion due from the centre was based on mere assumption and the provincial government might not get it,” he argued.
He said the target of Rs27 billion from the provincial receipts against Rs15 billion of last year was also an exaggerated figure while the revenue from agriculture tax was shown as one billion even though it was just Rs79 million in the 2014-15 budget.
He appreciated the establishment of terrorism endowment fund of Rs200 million but said it should be made operational at the earliest.Bakht Baidar Khan, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Meraj Humayun Khan and Abdul Karim of the QWP also took part in the debate and complained that despite claims no improvement was seen in the health, education and development sectors.
They opined that enrolment could not be enhanced due to shortage of schools, standard of education was extremely poor, medicines and other facilities were not available in hospitals and the condition of roads was deteriorating.
They questioned why last year’s budget could not be spent. They wondered whether it was due to the inefficiency of bureaucracy or lack of interest of the elected members.Terming it a budget of the businessmen and the rich, Meraj Humayun said there was nothing in it for labourers. She said concentration was paid to salary increase in the allocation for education but little was done for provision of other facilities and construction of schools.
Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman welcomed the suggestions but said the figures shown in the budget were realistic and it was not a deficit budget.The payment of arrears and increase in net hydel profit share was the right of the province that had recently been accepted by the federal government. This is the reason these figures have been reflected in the budget,” he argued.
He said the deteriorating situation in health, education and other sectors was because of political interference and recruitments without merit in the past. However, he said the present government had given a direction to all departments to overcome these problems and the situation would improve now.
Senior Minister Inayatullah said the allocation of Rs42 billion for local governments was a unique feature of the budget and it was aimed at empowering the people at the grassroots.Defending the budget, he said the figures shown were not based on assumption and the amount from the centre was decided by the technical and sub-technical committees and later discussed with the federal ministers. The release of this amount to the province was awaited as it needed the approval of Council of Common Interest (CCI), he added.
Finance Minister Muzaffar Said appreciated the suggestions from the lawmakers and assured that everything would be decided with consensus of the members. He said the federal government had assured release of the arrears of KP’s share of net hydel-generation profits as well as the amount due after de-capping the annual share of the province. .