LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly approved all 41 demands for grants worth over Rs3,986 billion, rejecting all cut motions moved by the opposition on Tuesday.

The opposition had tabled 15 cut motions against demands for grants for police, education, agriculture, irrigation, roads, excise and other departments.

Supporting the cut motion against allocation of over Rs187 billion for police, opposition lawmaker Ismael Saila wondered if the government was rewarding the police because the department was being used against political opponents.

Sheikh Imtiaz, another opposition MPA, suggested training in law and morality for policemen and sought evidence from the footage of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) cameras in all the cases registered against PTI activists.

Rana Aftab called for making police apolitical and lamented that some police officers held dual nationality and would escape abroad soon after the incumbent setup collapsed.

Arguing for the cut motion against the allocations made for the education department, opposition MPA Sardar Muhammad Ali Khan said it was strange that the prime minister was announcing an ‘education emergency’ in the country, while his niece (CM Maryam Nawaz) was contracting out educational institutions to NGOs.

MPA Nadia Khar claimed that 13,500 schools were being given to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF).

Education minister Sikander Hayat defended the budget, saying the government is overcoming the shortage of teachers created by the PTI during its term in power by banning new recruitment.

He also alleged that the PTI had registered 2 million “ghost” students in schools and embezzled Rs13.5bn meant for printing books.

The house is likely to pass the Finance Bill 2024-25 on Wednesday (today) to complete the process for budget approval.

Meanwhile, Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan announced formation of standing committees as the house gave approval for election to the chairmen of the panels.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2024