The general public says that they were expecting a people-friendly budget from the democratic government, but it has only disappointed them. The budget provides no relief to the general public from the present unprecedented price hike.

“We were hoping that the coalition government would freeze the existing prices of essential commodities for at least some months”, they say.

The middle class will face the brunt of the budgetary proposals because they will have to bear the extra burden of withholding tax on telephone charges.

Except for subsidy on the fertilizers, cultivators have criticized the government for not providing any incentive to them.

They have demanded that the rates of diesel and electricity and other inputs should be brought down. They say that cotton prices for the Kharif crop should have been announced to encourage the cotton growers.

However, Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Dr Rana Muhammad Tariq, PPP’s Zaka Ashraf and PPP federal council member Khan Muhammad Hussain Azad have termed the budget people-friendly.

They said that the government could not have presented a more balanced budget under the current circumstances.

Lauding the budget, the PPP and other coalition partners, including the PML-N, claim that maximum privileges have been provided to the people, particularly to government employees.

The Jamaat-i-Islami leaders have termed the budget anti-poor.

GOVERNOR: A PPP delegation, led by district president Riaz Dahar, called on Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in Lahore on Thursday. The delegation appraised the governor of problems, particularly the shifting of institute of Neuro Sciences from Bahawalpur to Lahore.