ISLAMABAD, June 19: A majority of lawmakers in the National Assembly on Thursday opposed the increase sought by the government in the President House’s expenditure and said the rise was incomprehensible in the wake of 30 per cent cut in the expenditure of the PM House and freezing of expenses of the National Assembly.

The lawmakers described the move as unethical and immoral in the wake of serious financial crunch the government was facing.

They endorsed most of the recommendations sent to it by Senate for incorporation in the final budget document.

The lower house also discussed and approved charged expenses Yousuf Talpur of PPP criticised auctioning of land of poor farmers who had failed to clear their loan dues, calling for rescheduling of such debts.

He also opposed the grant of subsidy on one fertiliser and said it should be done on all fertilisers with a mechanism ensuring that poor farmers benefitted from the government relief.

Mr Talpur observed that the defence budget presented in the National Assembly mentioned only heads and lacked details of expenditures. He said that details of pensions being given to all retired personnel of armed forces should be presented in the house.

Sheikh Waqas of the PML-Q endorsed a Senate recommendation to send the budget to committees to make it possible for lawmakers to include their suggestions in it.

He said a national policy should be devised for placement of a person’s name on the Exit Control List so that no one was victimised on political grounds.

He said the National Finance Commission award should be finalised at the earliest with enhanced share of provinces in resources. He endorsed early implementation of recommendations of a parliamentary committee on Balochistan so that the sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan was brought to an end.

Yasmeen Rehman called for linking increase in salaries of employees of grade 16 and below with the inflation rate. She also suggested bridging lending and borrowing rates of banks to end injustice with the common man.

Abdul Qadir Khanzada of the MQM endorsed a suggestion that the budget should be thoroughly discussed in committees of parliament.

Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor quoted from a newspaper article which said that from 1985 to 2002, loans totalling Rs30 billion had been written off, but from 2002 to 2006, about Rs125 billion loans had been written off.

He demanded a thorough probe into write-offs since 1985 and presentation of their details in the National Assembly.