June 23, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1428

PESHAWAR, June 22: Opposition lawmakers have accused the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government of depriving half of the NWFP population of their financial needs.

Resuming debate on the budget for 2007-08 here on Friday, they claimed that budget proposals were based on distorted data, contradictory claims and inequitable distribution of resources.

They said the MMA, which claimed to be a champion for fair play, had acted against its words and promoted the cult of hate and discrimination across the province.

Abdul Akbar Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians said the budget-making exercise of the MMA government was no different from previous military and civilian governments. He said successive governments had failed to devise a proper budgetary structure which reflected the aspirations of masses.

“We have been following the 1937 budget specimen framed by the British masters,” he said. “The 1973 Constitution has empowered federal and provincial governments to frame their own rules, which suit their social, economic and political demands, but none of them have so far made any progress on this front.”

He said Rs80 billion had been placed on the discretion of the chief minister under the guise of bloc allocation known as “umbrella scheme”. He said the government had not provided any district-wise break-up of projects for schools, hospitals and roads, besides drinking water schemes.

He said the entire Annual Development Programme was contained in a single thin volume, which showed that the government was not ready to make the budget public. He said the government did not know how to eliminate poverty, unemployment and health problems because it lacked a clear vision.

He said that on the one hand the government claimed that it had not introduced any new tax in the budget and on the other it had projected an increase in land revenue from Rs380 million to Rs600 million.

He wondered how the government would collect more revenue when it had not levied any new tax on farmers. He accused the government of backing out of its stand on net hydel profits, protected by the Constitution. He said that after the forming of the arbitration commission, the NWFP had lost its arrears of 20 years.

He said the MMA had incurred a loss of over Rs30 billion by accepting the National Finance Commission award given by one person, Gen Pervez Musharraf.

He said the government had ignored agriculture, mineral development and transport in the budget.

The government, he said, had failed to provide quality education through its public sector institution, although it had been boasting of establishing scores of new institutes.

Wajihuzzaman Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q claimed that the government had cancelled his Rs45 million schemes identified in the ADP. He said that on the one hand, the MMA was talking about austerity and on the other, the chief minister was using an expensive car. “If the chief minister uses a bullet proof vehicle it means law and order is deteriorating in the province.”

He said all districts should be given their due share in jobs.

Israrullah Khan Gandapur and Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao of the PPP (Sherpao) criticised what it called the double standard of the MMA leadership, who had a coalition government with the PML-Q in Balochistan but were opposing federal ministers. They said the government had consulted traders, journalists and farmers in the budget making, but it had not consulted MPAs who would pass it. “The MMA has committed a sin, we are not part of the budget.”