QWP leader terms KP budget anti-people

PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) provincial Chairman Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao on Saturday termed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget for the financial year 2020-21 as anti-people and said that it did not provide any relief to the poor.

Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club here, he said the budget was disappointing as it was aimed at giving relief only to the upper class and business tycoons.

He added the government did not consider plight of the salaried-class, the middle class, the small traders and the laborers.

Sikandar Sherpao said the budget was direction less and a mere accounting exercise. “Showing Rs90 billion deficit is also not correct and the deficit is much higher,” he added.

The projected amounts from the federal government will not be received, he said, adding that the target of Federal Tax Assignment of Rs 477.5 billion (which is an increase of 25% from the revised estimate of last year of Rs 379.1 B) was not achievable. “This will automatically affect 1% for WOT of 48.6 b. NHP figures will also be affected,” he added.

Sikandar Sherpao said that the ambitious figures of Rs 49.2 billion from provincial own receipts were also not achievable. He said that the white paper page 8 showed Rs90.7 billion but this will be more than Rs130 billion.

He added that the government did not adopt austerity and had instead raised the expenditure compared to the previous budget.

The QWP leader said that in the wake of Covid-19 it was expected that more allocation would be made for health, but sector was not given priority.

He said the government did not raise the salaries of the civil servants which was injustice. He said that the government lacked a clear plan of action to contain the spread of the coronavirus and the death rate was constantly rising.

Sikandar Sherpao said that no allocations were made for the people stranded overseas. He said that no substantial allocations had been made to stimulate the economy.

He maintained that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had been in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the last seven years, but it could not translate its so-called agenda of change into reality.

Commenting on the federal budget, Sikandar Sherpao recalled that last year the federal government had set an unachievable target of revenue collection at Rs55oo billion.

He added this year the federal government again set a target of Rs4963 billion, which was also not achievable because Covid-19 had affected the economy and as per the government claims there was a worldwide recession so how could this target be achieved.

“This will affect the provincial budget. There will be several mini-budgets over the period of next 10-12 months due to the historical deficit,” he added.

He said the federal government claimed it was a tax-free budget, but how can they increase revenue without raising taxes. “It seems the federal government will rely on indirect taxes through petroleum and other utilities like electricity and gas tariff hikes,” he added.