June 9, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1424

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FAISALABAD, June 8: Traders, farmers and industrialists have expressed mixed reaction over the policies announced in the budget.

Opposition leaders of political and religious parties have termed the budget a ‘jugglery of words’ and a ‘fraud’ with the poor who had been ignored in the budget.

Punjab PPP secretary-general Aftab Ahmad said the government had failed to provide any relief to the people leading their lives below the poverty line. He said not even a single incentive had been announced for the rehabilitation of sick industrial units.

He termed the budget ‘friendly for the capitalists but not for the poor’.

The deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Rana Sanaullah, said the government had failed to resolve people’s problems which could be judged from the fact that no relief package had been announced for the poor. He said the prices of all kitchen items had reached beyond the reach of the common man, and the government failure in providing any relief to them would further deteriorate the situation.

Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s acting president Mian Jawed termed the budget investment and trade friendly.

Farmers Associates Faisalabad president Tahir Saeed criticized the government for not providing any relief package for tillers, adding the issue of imposition of general sales tax and duties on insecticides and fertilizers had again been thrown in the cold storage.

Anjuman Tajiran Faisalabad president Nawaz Vohra said the government had failed to provide a direct relief to small traders. The powers delegated to the income tax administrative staff would open a new Pandora’s Box which would create a rift between the government and traders, he said.

GUJRANWALA: The local chamber of commerce and industry’s president, Khwaja Tahir Hassan, and other industrialists said that the budget was a balanced one. However, they said, the government should have announced incentives for all regular taxpayers. They termed the reduction of sales tax and price of cement a good decision.

The Markazi Anjuman Tajran also appreciated the budget and observed that no new tax had been imposed on people.

Leaders of various employees unions said that the government should have increased salaries and pensions by at least 25 to 30 per cent.

Political leaders said that the budget had been prepared to please the international finance agencies and it offered nothing for the welfare of common man.

Mutahida Majlis Amal’s MNA Maulana Qazi Hamidullah, MPA Maulana Mufti Ghulam Farid Hazarvi, PML-N’s former federal minister Ghulam Dastagir Khan and PPP’s MNA Chaudhry Imtiaz Safder Warraich termed it a “stereotyped” budget. They feared that unemployment might increase after the budget.

BAHAWALPUR: While the common man has criticised the budget, industrialists and pensioners have hailed some of the measures proposed in it.

People were of the view that the government had not announced any relief in respect of utilities like gas, telephone and electricity. They said that the government should have announced some reduction in electricity, gas and telephone tariffs. The prices of petroleum products should also have been brought down.

In the political circles, the federal budget was termed “a show of figures” that could not provide any relief to the general public.

SIALKOT: The Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry has termed the federal tax-free budget a “balanced” and “business-friendly” one.

Talking to this correspondent, SCCI vice-president Malik Ashraf said that the trade incentives announced in this budget would pave the way for economic growth.

Malik Ashraf further said that the government should ensure continuity of its trade and export policies in the larger interest of the business community.