PESHAWAR: Adviser to the chief minister on finance Muzammil Aslam on Wednesday said the provincial government had started working on the laying down of a power transmission line in the province and planned the establishment of a provincial electric power regulatory authority just like National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).

During the provincial assembly’s budget session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati here, Mr Aslam said that the provincial government would set its own tariff for power though the federal government didn’t want it to have its own power regulator.

He asked the opposition to support the treasury on the matter.

The aide to the CM rejected the opposition’s reservations about the “surplus” budget for the upcoming fiscal year and insisted that all that happened because the provincial government saved money, which could be utilised in the future.

CM’s aide urges opposition to support govt on matter

“We didn’t cut funds. Instead, we saved money from own resources. This surplus amount is for emergencies so that we don’t struggle in such situations,” he said.

Mr Aslam said that the province faced a law and order issue but it had been “controlled to some extent.”

He said that the opposition should have raised voice against the centre for allocating meagre amounts in the development budget for the province.

Parliamentary leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party Ahmad Karim Kundi said that the provincial government had failed to plead its case for the due share in national resources with the federal government.

He alleged that “some” members in the provincial government were “compromised.”

Mr Kundi said that the budget documents helped hold the government accountable.

He requested the chair to change rules for a detailed pre- and post-budget discussion to enable members to properly examine budget documents and ask questions.

The PPP leader said that the opposition couldn’t hold the government accountable on estimations as regrettably, the actual expenditure in the current fiscal year had no mention in the budget. He requested the government to share details of loans obtained by it.

“We [the 2008-13 PPP-ANP government] ensured the seventh NFC Award, which was a financial revolution not only for KP but for the entire country, too,” he said.

Mr Kundi added that the then government locked the province’s share in the Constitution under Article 163-b, ensuring the share in the NFC Award won’t be less than the previous one.

He said that calling an NFC meeting by the PTI government was not an achievement but a consensus on the award, which was developed during the seventh NFC Award.

The PPP leader wondered why the PTI didn’t call an NFC meeting from 2018 to 2022 despite ruling the centre, Punjab and KP at the same time.

He said that the provincial government was mishandling the province’s case for share in national resources as it wanted to “resolve issues by force.”

“Inciting PTI workers to violence and attacking Islamabad will never work. The way the provincial government is fighting its case for resources has disheartened PTI workers,” he insisted.

Mr Kundi said that the provincial government had failed to generate electricity during its three terms in the province.

He said that only 36.6 megawatts of electricity was produced after the completion of the Daral Khwar project.

The PPP leader said the province had the largest oil well in the country but the federal government was not paying excise duty on it as guaranteed by the Constitution.

“KP’s share in water is 8.87 million acre feet but it utilises 5.78 million acre feet, with three million acre feet going to waste. They [treasury members] are compromised,” he said.

Mr Kundi said that more than 45 per cent of the people in the province lived below the poverty line, while youth was enraged as the lawmakers had failed to deliver.

MPA Ikramullah Ghazi said that the opposition criticised the next budget but never realised that the federal budget by the PML-N-led government was uploaded on the website of the International Monetary Fund even before it could be passed by the National Assembly.

Member of the opposition JUI-F Makhdoomzada Aftab Haider claimed that not even a single police station in Dera Ismal Khan received new vehicles and that the amount paid by the federal government for the fight against terrorism was utilised by mills.

Opposition lawmaker Shahjahan Yousaf of the PML-N said the provincial government claimed to have presented a surplus budget.

“A budget is surplus only when you have done everything and still have money, or when you lack the capacity to do something,” he said.

Treasury MPA Ajmal Khan claimed that the provincial budget was meant for the people as the provincial government approved several schemes for infrastructure and school development. He complained that people in tribal districts didn’t have access to even basic facilities.

Mr Khan urged the federal, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan governments to provide the merged districts with the promised funding.

MPA Sher Ali resented budgetary cuts for service delivery, industry and agriculture department by the federal government, saying the centre is not interested in the development.

He said that more than 300 industrial units in the province stood closed.

The chair later put off the sitting until 2pm today (Thursday).

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2025