PESHAWAR, June 24: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday began debate on demand for grants to approve allocations proposed in the 2013-14 provincial budget for different government departments.

The House approved five demands for grants after the opposition members withdrew their cut motions.

Speaker Asad Qaisar presided over the sitting. On the first day, the demands for grant were related to the general administration, finance, planning and development and information technology.

The demands for grant, which were approved, amounted to Rs4.658 billion.

Provincial law minister Israrullah Gandapur presented a demand for grant worth Rs88.4 million to bear expenditure of the provincial assembly in the next financial year.

The demand was approved unanimously.

Mr Gandapur also presented a demand for grant of over Rs1.68 billion for general administration. Opposition members Arbab Akbar Hayat, Amina Sardar, Ruqia Hina, Shah Hussain, Sobia Shahid, Uzma Khan, Abdul Munim, Abdus Sattar Khan, Maulana Asmatullah and Mohammad Shiraz criticised the demand for grant, saying the funds were misused.

The lawmakers said the families and relatives of the officers used the government vehicles for personal use, which was a burden on the public exchequer.

The law minister agreed to the reservations of the opposition members and said the treasury and opposition benches would make a joint strategy to curtail unnecessary expenditure.—Bureau Report