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| June 27, 2005 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1426 |
Intense debate over supplementary grants
QUETTA, June 26: A heated debate raged in Balochistan assembly on Sunday over approval of supplementary grants with opposition members terming its passage contrary to the requirements of article 127 of the constitution and the treasury benches insisting that the article applied to cut motions to reject demands by majority members of the house.
The issue sparked caused an uproar that continued for a long time, forcing Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar to adjourn the session for 10 minutes.
Opposition members challenged the approval of supplementary grants by the house on Saturday and asserted that only 27 members supported the 19 demands of grant for the year 2004-05 – five members shy of the number required for endorsement.
Referring to article 127 of the constitution, they said that for the assent of the supplementary grants a majority of the house members needed to signal their approval.
But the senior minister and finance minister rejected the definition of the article by the opposition members and maintained that the said article was very much clear that majority members of the total house could reject the item of the supplementary grant through a cut motion.
Quoting rule 200 of the assembly, the finance minister said that sitting majority members of the house could pass the supplementary grants and added that opposition members were raising “baseless questions” with the aim of obstructing the smooth functioning of the house.
Hot words were exchanged between the two sides and for close to an hour the house witnessed scenes of bedlam. Nothing could be heard in the gallery and the chair adjourned the session for a short time.
Once the proceedings resumed, the speaker on a point of order of an opposition member said that he would give his ruling on the matter at the end of the day’s debate on the budget but the session was adjourned before the ruling could be fulfilled.
The minister for local bodies, who opened the debate on the budget, stated that although the budget was balanced, yet no amount had been allocated in the budget for mosques, madaris, and his local government department.
He said that it was unfortunate that although Pakistan was established in the name of Islam, yet the government had never allocated funds for mosques and madaris and added that it was unfair to grant funds to colleges and neglect the madaris, arguing that students of both institutions should be treated fairly.
He regretted that no funds had been allocated for the local government to ameliorate the civic system in the district headquarters of the province, particularly the provincial capital, and stated that without funds the city and town would remain dirty and polluted.
The ministers for Balochistan development authority and labour and manpower also expressed their views on the budget and described it as balanced that would resolve the problems faced by the people.
During the question hour the opposition members alleged that the government had utilized some of the amount from the prime minister’s drought funds of one billion for law and order, but the minister for planning and development denied the opposition members’ assertions.
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