MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly here on Thursday formally initiated debate on budget estimates for 2014-15, but amid disinterest of treasury benches in the proceedings which compelled the chair to adjourn the session for some time.

The debate was opened in the morning session by PML-N’s Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, who while quoting figures from the budget books criticised the government for its extravagance with recurring budget as well as discrimination in allocation of development budget.

“The expenditures of the president and prime minister have escalated manifolds and every other government functionary is travelling with police escorts as if they live in Brunei Darussalam and not in a deficit stricken state,” he said, in a reference to rich Southeast Asian state.

He recalled that had Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif not intervened at the last moment, no-confidence move against Chaudhry Abdul Majeed would have succeeded (in July last year). Even then the AJK government had not mended its ways and was constantly committing same mistakes that had compelled the opposition to go for the change, he said.

He alleged that the budget estimates clearly reflected that only four or five constituencies were the “privileged ones” while the rest were being denied even their legitimate share.

Mr Farooq also regretted that for the past five years, the volume of development budget stuck at the same figure - Rs10.5 billion - and the government had failed to do the requisite planning and make efforts to enhance this volume.

PML-N’s Syed Shaukat Ali Shah also criticised the government, but the minister for physical planning and housing, Chaudhry Pervez Ashraf, and the minister for works, Chaudhry Mohammad Rasheed, defended the government, saying it was striving for resolution of people’s problems.

They asserted that the government had presented the best budget in the given circumstances.

Afterwards, the session was adjourned by the chair to meet again in the afternoon. However, when it resumed proceedings, indifference of treasury benches was visible from their poor attendance.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2014