Punjab govt fails to present budget

LAHORE/PESHAWAR: For the first time in the history of Punjab, the government was unable to present its budget on a scheduled date after a deadlock between the Punjab Assembly Speaker and the government resulted in the adjournment of the session for Tuesday (today).

Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi adjourned the session, which had already begun with a delay of over six hours until Tuesday and directed the Punjab IG and the Chief Secretary to ensure their presence in the House. The Speaker also demanded apology from the IG for registration of cases against political workers and called for their immediate withdrawal. The deadlock between the Speaker and the government delayed the start of the budget session for over six hours.

It was scheduled to begin at 2pm but the Speaker, in the business advisory committee meeting, demanded withdrawal of cases against PTI workers and asked the Inspector General to tender an apology to the legislators. The deadlock over the issue continued for more than six hours and the budget session could not start.

Later, the issue was resolved and as the session began, Chaudhry Zaheerud Din, an opposition member, objected to the presence of Atta Ullah Tarar, an unelected member of the House, who is a part of the Punjab cabinet. It created another debate and controversy in the House and the Speaker ordered the sergeant-at-arms to take Tarar out of the House. However, he later stopped them and asked him to leave voluntarily but he did not obey the orders which led to another adjournment.

The session restarted after a delay of more than an hour. The opposition also objected to the absence of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz Sharif and former Law Minister Raja Basharat stated it was for the first time in history of the province that the chief minister was not present in the budget session. Hamza Shehbaz, however, later reached the assembly and the session began once again. Much to the shock of the government, the Speaker once again objected to the absence of the IG and the Chief Secretary. He demanded that both officials must ensure their presence in the House and warned the budget speech could not start until they appeared. Sardar Awais Leghari of the PMLN was to deliver the speech whereas Sibtain Khan has been made the opposition leader.

The Speaker observed that when Sardar Usman Buzdar was the chief minister, the IG and the Chief Secretary used to remain present in the visitors’ gallery and warned that the budget speech would not start until they ensured their presence during the proceedings. Provincial Minister Malik Ahmad Khan requested the Speaker to let the budget speech begin and assured him the officials would turn up but the chair turned down the request. When both officials did not appear before the House, the Speaker adjourned the session until Tuesday (today). In this way, it was the first time in history of the assembly the government was not able to present the annual budget due to the deadlock with the Speaker, who enjoys the support of the PTI and his PMLQ party, which jointly form a strength of around 168 MPAs (As per official statistics).

Opposition leader Sibtain Khan told the media outside the assembly that it was mandatory for officials to follow the chair’s ruling but due to the stubbornness of the government, the budget could be presented. However, Sardar Awais Leghari of the PMLN strongly protested against the decision and said the Speaker had done it out of a personal grudge against the officials. He said the Speaker had violated the law and it was not the matter of two individuals, but the issue related to 120 million people of Punjab. Provincial Minister Atta Tarar said it was done by the Speaker through a planned manner. “The Deputy Speaker was attacked by accused recruited by the Speaker who is running the House like a private limited company,” he charged.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government unveiled the budget for the fiscal year 2022-23, with a total outlay of Rs1,332 billion and Rs418.2 billion for the development sector. Presented by Minister for Finance Taimur Salim Jhagra, it was the fourth budget by the incumbent and the 9th of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in the province.

Out of the total outlay of Rs1,332 billion (Rs1108.9 billion for settled and Rs223.1 billion for merged districts), the current budget is Rs913.8 billion including Rs789.8 billion for the settled and Rs124 billion for the merged districts. The Rs418.2 billion development budget consists of Rs319.2 billion for settled and Rs99 billion for merged areas.

A raise of 16 per cent each in the salaries of government employees and 15 per cent in pensions was suggested in the budget, having allocations of Rs447.9 billion for salaries i.e. Rs372.1 billion for settled and Rs75.8 billion for merged districts. An amount of Rs107 billion have been earmarked for pension. The budget allocation includes Rs275.7 billion for the provincial development programme and Rs4 billion for the district development programme. The budget proposal also included the regularization of services of about 63,000 ad hoc employees, 675 doctors, 58,000 teachers and 4,079 employees of 128 projects of ex-Fata.

Four sectors, including health, education, police and energy and power got, a major increase of Rs55 billion, Rs 47billion, Rs14 billion and Rs11 billion, respectively, in the budget compared to the previous budget. The estimated receipts reflected in the budget document are Rs570.9 billion from federal taxes, Rs68.6 billion from the federal divisible pool as one per cent on account of suffering from militancy, Rs31 billion royalty on oil, gas and straight transfers, Rs61.9 billion net hydel profit, Rs85 billion provincial tax and non-tax revenue, Rs4.3 billion foreign development aid (FPA) for merged districts, Rs208.7 billion grant and Rs212.7 billion from other revenues.

In his budget speech, the finance minister announced the launch of the Sehat Card top-up package for government employees along with OPD facility, medicines and medical checkup with co-payment with the option of continuing with the existing medical allowance.

He also hinted at introducing the Public Finance Management law under Article 119 of the Constitution for bringing transparency to the financial system. He said Rs26 billion had been allocated for Insaf Food Card for one million deserving families besides an allocation of Rs25 billion for Sehat Card Plus of which 800,000 patients benefited during 2021-22.

The finance minister said from January next lever transplant would be included in Sehat Card while five more diseases, bone marrow transplant, multiple sclerosis, cochlear implants, thalassemia and advanced cancer coverage would also be added to the Sehat Card facility. He also announced new reforms like transport monetization and vehicle leasing policy, change of executive allowance to performance allowance, work from home on Friday, and introduction of fleet cards to save fuel and reduce the risk of pilferage across all departments.

The budget proposals also included the launch of a maternal ambulance service, recruitment of 3,500 more lady health workers and 70 lady health supervisors, extending Rescue 1122 services to the tehsil level, merging the fire-brigade into Rescue 1122, launching of mobile highway/motorway rescue service and enhanced allocations for educational institutions establishment, upgradation and scholarships for students. Earlier, journalists walked out of the press gallery to protest the non-provision of budget documents.