KARACHI: Opposition terms Sindh budget unrealistic
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, June 17: Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Saturday has termed the provincial budget-2006-07 ‘unrealistic’.
Addressing a news conference, along with the deputy parliamentary leader Syed Murad Ali Shah and MPA Ms Shazia Marri, Mr Khuhro said that the budget would particularly affect the social sector badly.
He said the budget was a pack of contradictions, and slammed the government for spending fabulously on its upkeep at the cost of security and economic opportunities for people.
Syed Murad Ali Shah stressed the need for a new NFC Award which, he pointed out, was long overdue. He said the amendment made by General Pervez Musharraf in the award was unconstitutional as there was no provision in the constitution for amendment to an old award.
Giving details of the contradictions in the provincial budget, PPP spokesperson on finance Shazia Marri said that the per capita revenue expenditure in Sindh was Rs4,574 whereas in Punjab, it was Rs2,600. The figures make it clear that a resident of Sindh pays 76 per cent more than his counterpart in Punjab for governance.
The PPP leaders rejected the Sindh chief minister’s claims that PPP had always presented deficit budgets during its tenures. Termed it ‘incorrect statement’, they said that for three consecutive fiscals, 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1996-97, had surplus budgets.
They pointed out that in their power struggle, the governor and chief minister had resorted to heavy spending to assert their position and strength. In this context, the PPP leaders gave comparative figures of spending by the Governor’s House and the CM’s House.
They pointed out that the budget 2005-06 earmarked Rs24 billion for development but Rs27 billion had been released and Rs15 billion utilised by May 2006 . It projects that Rs. 20 billion would be utilized by year end. It is ridiculous that the finance department had released Rs27 billion whereas it expected that only Rs20 billion would be utilised. In fact, till April 30, 2006, only Rs11.5 billion of development funds had been utilised, said Ms Marri.
She pointed out that the number of staff in the PPO office was shown to have been reduced from 778 to 340. However, the expenditure of the office had increased from Rs1.54 billion in 2005-06 to almost Rs2 billion the next year. Similarly, at the RPO office, Hyderabad, the staff had been reduced from 376 to 88 but its expenses had increased from Rs49 million to a whopping Rs137 million. The RPO office had also proposed to buy vehicles costing Rs117 million, she added.
The education department’s revenue budget was proposed to be increased from Rs4.1 billion to Rs12.74 billion. Of this increase, almost Rs3.75 billion was on account of salaries, Rs4.5 billion on account of grants, subsidies and writing off of loans. Of Rs12.74 billion, more than 50 per cent, i.e. Rs7 billion, was on account of grants for which no detail had been given, the PPP leaders said.
