Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assured the National Assembly on Friday that there would be no change in the budget approved by the Parliament.
Responding to a point of order by MMA's Liaquat Baloch, he told the House that there would be no change, whatsoever, in the Finance Bill 2004-05. Baloch said that his assertion in the budget speech that individuals earning Rs 0.1 million per year would be exempted from income tax had been flouted, and CBR through an advertisement had brought these individuals under tax net.
The Prime Minister made it clear that the Central Board of Revenue would be approached to withdraw the unilateral decision and it would be clarified in Pakistan Television bulletin. "I assure this august House that the government will stand by the budget and there will be no change in it whatsoever," he added.
Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Sikandar Hayat Bosan told the House that Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) had started procurement of cotton (lint), in view of complaints that phutti prices were coming down.
He said that the government had fixed price of lint at Rs 2314 per 40 kg and would continue to intervene wherever it would find that growers were not getting the fixed price of phutti.
"The government will ensure that growers get Rs 925 for 40 kg phutti; otherwise, TCP will intervene to safeguard their interests," he added.
TCP, he said, had set up procurement centres in various parts of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, and was planning to open some more.
Contrary to what the minister said, opposition MNAs, particularly cotton growers from Sindh, criticised the cotton policy, saying that phutti prices had plunged to even Rs 850 per 40 kg, but the government remained unmoved to intervene.
Mujeeb Pirzada, Qurban Ali Shah, Yousaf Talpur and Ghani Talpur demanded of the TCP to intervene to save the farmers from incurring losses.
They complained that the government had overlooked many cotton growing areas in establishment of its procurement centres.
The minister rejected their viewpoint and said that as per requirement, all necessary measures had been taken and the government was monitoring the situation on daily basis.
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