PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Wednesday approved a Rs240 billion supplementary budget for the financial year 2024-25.

Also, all demands for grants got the house’s consent without any discussion in the session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati.

Earlier, the treasury members requested their colleagues from the opposition benches to withdraw their cut motions.

However, the opposition refused to do so, prompting the speaker to exercise his powers for presenting demands for grants in the house for approval without discussion.

Lawmakers resent prolonged power cuts, urge speaker to call Pesco chief to house

Lawmakers also complained about prolonged power outages across the province and demanded that the chief executive of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company be called to the house for explanation.

Leader of the Opposition Dr Ibadullah said a committee comprising members from the treasury and opposition benches should be formed to “discuss and resolve” the issue.

He also called for the proposed committee’s meeting with the Pesco chief to devise a strategy to effectively bring the prolonged power suspension to an end, and urged people to pay bills regularly to claim power supply.

Treasury MPA Humayun Khan said the people in his constituency paid Rs3 billion electricity bills annually, while the salaries paid to Wapda employees every year totaled around Rs120 million, but even then, people were subjected to excessive power cuts.

He said the residents got power transformers repaired by themselves and even purchased electricity pylons.

The speaker announced that he would form a house committee and call the Pesco chief over excessive power outages.

Also during the session, the lawmakers, mostly from merged tribal districts and Malakand Division, protested the federal government’s decision to impose 10 per cent sales tax in ex-Fata and ex-Pata.

Special assistant to the chief minister on housing Amjad Ali noted that the former Swat State, which comprised Swat, Buner, Shangla and Kohistan districts, was self-sufficient in goods and imposed no tax on residents, but the federal government had unjustifiably planned to bring the Malakand region into the tax net.

He said Malakand was witnessing street protests against that tax move.

“Our [PTIs] members resisted the tax announcement in the National Assembly and will never accept it,” he said.

The opposition leader claimed that it was the PTI government in 2015-16 to recommend the extension of 10 per cent sales tax to Malakand Division and merged districts, while the federal government enforced it.

He said that he and his Safron minister brother, Amir Muqam, tendered resignations as MNAs, forcing the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to withdraw the move.

Dr Ibadullah said that the sales tax was recommended by the prime minister but won’t be imposed.

Adnan Khan of the opposition JUI-F said that a budget was called surplus only after revenue exceeded expenditure and was spent on research, debt payment or development projects, but the PTI government utilised the “surplus budget” on financial assistance, salaries, relief allowances and utility bills.

He said the government’s seven Rs151 billion worth of flagship projects were to be completed with the help of the surplus budget, but none of them was new.

The opposition member complained about a law and order crisis in his constituency and said he couldn’t go there.

“We don’t need a budget, which cannot promise protection to our lives,” he said.

Mr Khan complained that a drone strike in his constituency killed 16 people, including children and women.

He said in the past, the US used to do such strikes but currently, those attacks were carried out by the local authorities.

Another JUI-F member, Rehana Ismail, complained that protesting government employees were baton-charged and tear-gassed by police in the provincial capital.

Law minister Aftab Alam Afridi said that the government had announced 15-30 per cent disparity allowance for employees but the latter wanted it to be increased to 45 per cent, which was not possible due to financial constraints.

He said that the action was taken against protesters for entering Red Zone.

MPA Fazal Ilahi said he met the protesting government employees and forwarded their demands to authorities.

He added that the chief minister formed a committee to “discuss and resolve” the issue.

The speaker noted that the house represented the entire province, so the military checkpost should be moved away from the assembly’s main gate. He directed the law minister to take necessary action.

Member of the opposition PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi complained that the original allocations for the Chief Minister Secretariat’s “secret service fund” was Rs50 million but it was enhanced to Rs200 million, while the chief minister’s discretionary funds went up to Rs500 million.

“This house and people need an explanation for this uncalled-for funding surge,” he said.

Lawmaker from the opposition PML-N Sobia Shahid said that the government claimed to have presented a surplus budget but people wondered why it made an agreement with the Asian Development Bank to obtain Rs91 billion loan on interest.

The chair later put off the sitting until July 1 afternoon.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2025