June 27, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1429

KARACHI, June 26: Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Jam Madad Ali has said that the opposition members had submitted over 500 cut motions in the assembly, which would be taken up during the discussion on the demand for grants for the year 2008-09 on Friday.

Jam Madad, who was talking to a group of journalists after Thursday’s assembly session, said that they did not move any cut motions on the demand for supplementary grants for 2007-08 just to save the time of the house because these demands pertained to the last government.

However, he and his colleagues had made due preparations for moving cut motions for the demands made for the new fiscal year and were prepared to press their cut motions.

Meanwhile, during Wednesday’s session, the last day of general discussion on the budget, the gist of most of the speeches was that the budget for 2008-09 was prepared on the basis of the Pakistan People’s Party’s programme given to it by Benazir Bhutto, which was aimed at ameliorating the lot of the common man.

The session, presided over by Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, was called to order at 11.22am. When the chair called it a day at 10.30pm after over 13 hours of deliberation, 30 speakers had participated in the discussion.

During the five-day general discussion, a total of 95 members participated. Some of the speakers delivered remarkable speeches to rebut criticism and forcefully defended the budget as “poor friendly” and “balanced.”

Pir Mazharul Haq said that the opposition had criticised the budget in the traditional manner without taking the trouble to study it

Syed Sardar Ahmad, recalled the history of the heavy mandate, pointed out the need to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

Ayaz Soomro said that in the budget, funds were allocated for the judges colony, while a new law college would be established in Larkana named after Benazir Bhutto.

Shoaib Bokhari of the MQM emphasised the need for human resource development management. He said if the GST was transferred to the provinces, there would be no need to look for funds from the federal government.