|
|
|
| June 29, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1426 |
Rs46.7bn Balochistan budget approved
QUETTA, June 28: The Balochistan Assembly passed the Rs46.7 billion provincial budget for 2005-06 and the chief minister urged the president and the prime minister to announce a special package for Balochistan to take the province further on the path of development.
The house also approved 46 demands of supplementary grants presented by Finance Minister Syed Ehsan Shah on Tuesday night. The house rejected all cut motions tabled by the opposition.
Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar presided over the session. The finance minister tabled 41 demands of non- development expenditure amounting to Rs34.6 billion and five demands of development expenditure of Rs.11.7 billion.
Opposition members Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and Sardar Azam Musakhel presented cut motions. However, the cut motion of leader of the opposition Kachkol Baloch could not be tabled as he was not present.
Chief Minister Jam Yousuf after the passage of the budget said that President Musharraf wanted to improve economic conditions of Balochistan and in this regard the federal government had launched mega projects worth billions of rupees in the province.
He said in the past governments at the Centre made hollow promises for the development of the province but never allocated funds to get Balochistan out of backwardness.
The chief minister said that Balochistan needed financial support from the centre to bring it on a par with other developed areas of the country, saying that the president and the prime minister should announce a special package to help the province meet its development requirements.
Referring to the budget and PSDP, the chief minister said positive suggestions of the opposition would be considered and incorporated.
He lauded the role of opposition members and maintained that members from both sides of the house should respect each other keeping in view traditions of Balochs and Pakhtuns, adding that every party had its own perception on political issues but that could not be imposed on others.
He stated that the government had invited opposition members to discuss the budget and the PSDP but they stayed away. He added that the government would take along opposition members in development programmes so that uplift took place in all areas.
Jam Yousuf said 10,000 vacancies would be created, while 1,000 posts would be created to adjust jobless engineers, agriculture graduates and veterinary doctors. Qesco and Wapda have been asked to accommodate qualified youths, he added.
Referring to the opposition members’ claim that the law and order situation was not satisfactory as the chief minister himself was not safe, he maintained that if a person decided to commit crime no one could stop him.
However, he categorically declared that the government was not afraid of such attacks as it was determined to go along with the uplift programme launched for the betterment of the people.
The chief minister said that Balochistan did not get just share in the Sui gas revenue as it was the only source of income of the province and said that the province could benefit from the Pasni fish harbour if it was privatized.
He announced one-month salary for the employees and photographers of the assembly secretariat.
Later, the session was adjourned till Wednesday.
|
|
|
|
