ISLAMABAD: (Parliament Times) The House is continuing discussion on the budgetary proposals for the next fiscal year.
Participating in the debate, Samina Abid said that the budget carries no relief for common man. She said country’s loans have surged to an unprecedented height in the present government.
She said no programme has been given in the budget for the welfare of children and women.
Hari Ram said no subsidy has been given to the agriculture sector; similarly, industry is not performing well and no attention has been given to this aspect.
He said country is facing worst kind of electricity load-shedding and shortage of gas.
He said five percent quota reserved for non-Muslims is not being implemented in letter and spirit.
Kalsoom Parveen said that smaller provinces should be given their due share enabling them to make progress.
She said interest on agricultural loans for Balochistan farmers should be waived off.
She congratulated the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his team for their hard work in budget preparation.
Khalida Parveen termed the budget as gimmickry of words.
She criticized the government for not fulfilling its commitment of overcoming load-shedding in the country.
She said the government has adopted a callous approach towards sectors like agriculture, health, education and social welfare.
Hafiz Hamdullah said budget without National Finance Commission Award is meaningless.
He said the budget is a mockery with the nation as it contains nothing for the people of this country.
Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali told the House that no discrimination is made with any province with regard to distribution of electricity.
He was responding to a calling attention notice moved by Nauman Wazir Khattak and others regarding the underutilization of power by the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as allocated by the National Power Control Centre, the balance being drawn by DISCOs in Punjab and the failure of the Government to take any corrective measure to mitigate this issue despite its acceptance by the Ministry.
He said the demand raised by various DISCOs is met accordingly.
He said the federal government has released 540 million rupees for the construction of 220 KV grid station at Chakdara to acquire the land but the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government took four years for this purpose which delayed the project.
He said 6500 megawatt of additional electricity has been added to the national grid and more will be added in days to come.
To another calling attention notice moved by Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh regarding the killing of innocent Pakistanis in the recent outbreak of violent firing on Line of Control by the Indian Forces, Abid Sher Ali said about 66 civilians have been martyred and 228 injured and ceasefire violation by the Indian forces on the LoC.
The chair referred the matter to the Standing Committee concerned for getting more information and deliberation.
The House held discussion on an adjournment motion moved by Azam Khan Swati and others regarding the incident of firing by the Afghan Security Forces on a census team operating inside the residential areas of Pakistan at Chaman border which resulted into loss of precious lives of civilians as well as armed forces personnel.
The members expressed concerns over the loss of precious human lives on the Pak-Afghan border.
Those who spoke on the occasion include Azam Khan Swati, Nauman Wazir Khattak, Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Sehar Kamran, Abdul Qayyum, Hafiz Hamdullah, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Mir Kabir Muhammad Shah, Taj Haider, John Kenneth Williams and Rehman Malik.
The House will now meet tomorrow morning at 11.
