QUETTA: Members of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly have reminded Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri of his promise to include development schemes in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) as suggested by them earlier.

They added that it would be a great injustice to those sitting in the opposition benches and the women if an equal distribution of development funds was not carried out.Discussing the 2016-17 Balochistan budget on Thursday evening, members from both sides of the aisle said that investment would be made in various sectors of the province once peace was restored. The session was presided over by Speaker Rahila Hameed Khan Durrani. They said that while law and order had visibly improved across the province, there was a need to improve it further.

After congratulating the chief minister on presenting a comprehensive budget, deputy opposition leader Zamarak Piralizai of the Awami National Party said it was the government’s responsibility to include in the PSDP development schemes suggested by the opposition members. The PML-N’s Mir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali raised a question regarding funds allocated for setting up an agriculture university in Nasirabad. He suggested that the chief minister should publish a white paper on the performance and funds spent by the provincial governments since 1999.

According to MPA Jamali, political parties should award party tickets to women for contesting in the general elections instead of bringing them in on the assembly’s reserved seats. He said it was time discrimination against women in distribution of development funds was ended.

Responding to Mr Jamali, the chief minister said Rs250 million had been suggested in the PSDP for the establishment of the agriculture university.

Opposition MPA Shahida Rauf said the government had failed to achieve goals set in the past three budgets, including those in public health and education. “Large funds were allocated for these sectors but no significant improvement is visible despite the declaration of an educational emergency,” said the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) MPA, adding that the performance in public health engineering was also questionable and the government had failed to supply drinking water to the people of Quetta in three years. “If the underground water table has depleted and tube wells have dried up, where is the tanker mafia providing water from at such high rates,” she asked.

She said no funds had been allocated for mobile medical units despite the fact that health facilities were not available in rural areas. She said billions of rupees had been spent on fixing the sewage problem in the provincial capital but nothing concrete had been done in this regard.

The MPA said the chief minister should expose the officials who had wasted public money on the project.

Ms Rauf was critical about the funds releasing system and claimed that the money for development schemes was released just two months before the new budget. The MPA said she had submitted development schemes but the new additional chief secretary for planning and development had not included them in the budget.

She added that there was a need for an effective monitoring system to keep an eye on how the development and non-development funds were spent. The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Spozmai Achakzai said she was satisfied with the new budget and glad that special priority had been given to education and health.

Minister for Water and Sanitation Authority Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai said the government should pay special attention to law and order in order to restore peace and bring investment in the province.

He said that friendly ties should be established with neighbouring countries and special funds should be spent on improving the health and education sectors.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2016