QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani on Thursday congratulated all coalition partners over the approval of the provincial budget for the next financial year by the provincial assembly. He said the government was determined to fully protect rights of the province and it would not make any compromise on it.

The chief minister was speaking at the budget session of the Balochistan Assembly.

“We will jointly secure rights of the Balochistan’s people and would take all steps needed for development of the province which remained backward because of wrong policies of several previous governments,” Mr Alyani said.

Defending the first budget of his government and replying to criticism of opposition parties, he said the coalition government had finalised the budget after consulting all stakeholders, including members of opposition parties.

“In the budget no area of the province has been ignored for development projects as the government believes in equal development of all districts,” he said.

CM Alyani said collective efforts were needed to ensure development across the province. He claimed that the present government had succeeded in presenting a public-friendly budget.

Mr Alyani lauded the role of opposition members and said that they played the role what was expected of them: to make the government answerable to them on all issues.

“This is the beauty of democracy, but I would request all lawmakers to ensure that the sanctity of this august house is maintained,” he said.

“All aspects of budget, including development projects, non-development expenditures, Public Sector Development Programme and even the quality of PSDP’s books were discussed during budget speeches and it helped the government review all matters thoroughly.”

Referring to the performance of his government, the chief minister said: “We all have witnessed radical changes in the province because of law and order situation and some natural disasters, but over the past 10 months things have been improving though there are some weaknesses also in the system, but we cannot move forward without learning and correcting our mistakes.”

The chief minister said that flawed policies of the past and the PSPD prepared by previous governments created difficulties for the new government, but in the present budget all stakeholders had been taken into confidence and if the present government was given the chance of making the next budget it would be more people-friendly.

Budget passed

Meanwhile, the provincial assembly passed Rs419 billion budget of Balochistan for financial year 2019-20. It also approved 90 demands for grants, but rejected all cut motions moved by opposition members.

Deputy Speaker Sardar Babar Khan Musakhail presided over the budget session.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019