PESHAWAR, May 15: Speakers at a pre-budget dialogue on Tuesday asked political parties to set up their own budget-making cells to help prepare the national budget for the government that should reflect the real economic situation of the country.

A day-long pre-budget dialogue 2007-08: public fears, problems and suggestions was jointly organised by the Action-Aid Pakistan and the Citizens Awareness Promotion Society at the Peshawar Press Club to highlight the economic problems being faced by the common people and suggest measures for their solution in the next budget.

Awami National Party central additional secretary-general Haji Mohammad Adeel said the political leadership, which ran the government, was kept away from the entire budget-making exercise. He said the bureaucracy had made it (budget) jugglery of numbers to deceive the political leadership.

He said: “Bureaucrats provide the budget to cabinet members a few days before it is tabled in the house. The cabinet finds no other option but to approve it in the larger interest of the government, while MPAs, who do not go through the tomes, also endorse it the interest of their party.” He said the preparation for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) used to reflect the financial expertise, political approach and priorities of a government, but in this province it was made to hoodwink the voters.

Mr Adeel said: “In our case, the ADP size is based on short-lived interests. Usually MPAs are given maximum development schemes to inaugurate them and put their name plates in their constituencies. In fact, a meagre amount is allocated for such schemes.”

He said his party members had suggested to the government that instead of launching any new scheme funds should be used for the ongoing schemes.

National Party provincial convener Syed Mukhtar Bacha said people did not believe in budget documents because they simply asked for relief in the wake of increase in prices of essential items and facilities in the social sector. He said every government had neglected the social sector (health and education) and fattened the defence budget.

He was of the view that only the salaried class talked about the nature of the budget, adding that the budget reflected the aspirations of the people, but in Pakistan it had no direction. “We have no agriculture policy. We have failed to implement the agriculture reforms,” he added.

Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao) MPA Arsha Khan said that at present 63,000 workers were engaged in different industrial units while 23,000 were unemployed after the closure of some 800 of 1,961 units in the province.

He stressed the need for setting up industrial units at the district-level to contain the migration of rural population to the already congested industrial cities.

Mr Khan said Gujranwala district had more industrial units than the entire NWFP. He urged the federal government to double the payment of net hydel profit for the province.