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| June 10, 2006 | Saturday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1427 |
Opposition terms budget rich-friendly: ‘N-programme being rolled back’
ISLAMABAD June 9: Legislators belonging to the treasury and opposition benches on Friday criticised the budget 2006-07, terming it anti-poor and rich-friendly while some of them went to the extent of warning the government that civil war might break out if deprived people’s problems were not redressed urgently.
PPP Parliamentarians’ Dr Babar Awan accused the government of having rolled back the nuclear programme. He also said that the government had stopped work on seven vital projects in the PSDP 2006-07 out of 30 ongoing projects included in the current PSDP.
Parliament, he said, should be taken into confidence and should be informed about projects which had been dropped and also name the people responsible for the decision. He said the move was akin to undermining the country’s defence capability, adding that the country’s nuclear programme had been initiated during the tenure of a civilian prime minister while nuclear tests had been conducted during the tenure of another civilian premier.
Dr Awan termed the subsidy offered on pulses a joke played on the poor and said more than 85 per cent of the country’s population lived outside the Utility Stores’ reach. He also dared the government to work out a small family budget for Rs4,000, which it had proposed as minimum wages for workers.
He presented figures for a financial plan for an average six-member lower-middle class family, which amounted to Rs17,800 per month without including such essential items as rent for a modest house, medical bill, accidental expenses and expenses incurred on conveyance.
He termed the Finance Bill 2006 unlawful, supra-constitutional and said that it was invalid on the grounds that it proposed amendments to 50 laws, which would render them un-enforceable. He said under Article 73 of the Constitution, money bills could not be amended in the finance bill.
On the third day of the debate, lawmakers from both sides of the political divide continued criticising budget makers for providing less than desired allocations for education and criticised the increase in defence budget.
Dr Awan also criticised the absence of even the mention of women development or a special scheme for minorities in the budget estimates while the National Accountability Bureau sought funds for its external operations, meaning to chase the popular leadership abroad.
Enver Baig of the PPP blamed the government for having done nothing to provide relief to the poor and for promoting what he termed cronyism and nepotism. In this connection, he cited the ECC to allow the import of tractors at zero per cent duty to four ‘favourite’ parties. The real beneficiary of the decision, he said, was a minister’s son who, he said, was a British national.
He said that a minister involved in the recent sugar crisis was heading the Utility Stores. He also gave details of allotment of 1,000 acres of land in Karachi at a throwaway price of Rs100,000 per acre, adding that there was no sign of a plant for which it was allotted.
Citing last year’s infamous stock exchange scam, he said the same cartel that had caused the stock crash had been successful getting the SECP chairman removed.
Abbas Kumaili of the MQM said the budget did not contain anything positive for the poor, adding that it took care of the interests of the haves while ignoring the have-nots.
Talha Mahmud of the MMA contested government’s claim of having broken the begging bowl and said the bowl had in fact been enlarged.
He said that prices of wheat flour had gone up by 108 per cent, kerosene oil 400 per cent, milk 200 per cent and pulses 233 per cent during the present government’s tenure.
Sardar Jamal Leghari suggested the setting up of yet another ministerial portfolio and said a ministry of human resource should be tasked to determine ministers’ suitability.
Other speakers included Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, Maulana Abdul Rashid, Bibi Yasmin, Farooq Naik, Dr Abdul Malik and Sahibzada Khalid Jan. The house will now meet on Saturday.
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