LAHORE - Opposition Leader at the Punjab Assembly Ch Zaheer-ud-Din, while outrightly rejecting the budgetary highs and hopes of the provincial government, has maintained that nothing new has been done, and previous year’s goal and objectives have been represented in the fiscal outlay of 2009-10.
He was talking to media persons on Tuesday at the Punjab Assembly after the presentation of the budget.
To him, after spending Rs 14 billion on the Sasti Roti Scheme in three months during the last year, the government had again allocated Rs 7.50b, which would be a huge failure again. “Secondly, the money fixed for Food Stamp Scheme, should have been spent on developing industry for the creation of work culture instead of producing a stipend-reliant population,” he added.
Ch Zaheer was of the view that due to the bad revenue collections - which the government had accepted it as well - the province would get Rs 175 b from the federal divisible pool, which would have been Rs 6b provided the government had been successful in meeting the targeted revenue collection.
“The government has claimed to have spent 48 per cent from Rs 160b annual development budget, which is pretty low. People give taxes, but the government does not have disbursement system, which delays development projects; thereby adding to the cost ultimately,” he observed. He also pointed that 45 kilometres had been added to the Lahore Ring Road project just facilitate a few Raiwind residents.
The Opposition Leader was critical of the government’s wheat campaign. “It does not have the capacity to buy wheat, or any other crop, especially when it is bumper. It is the time to look beyond borders for selling agriculture products so that the growers get the guarantee of selling their crops,” he opined. Ch Zaheer said the Danish School System and buses projects had been repeated for the second time in two successive fiscal layouts.
He was of the considered opinion that the administrative failures had been camouflaged under terrorism.
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