Government urged to create fiscal space by curbing corruption: opposition Senators resist flood tax

Opposition Senators have strongly opposed the imposition of flood tax, urging the government to create fiscal space by reducing expenditures and curbing corruption in various institutions. Taking part in the debate, Senator Professor Khurshsid Ahmed said that the government should reduce its expenditure and control massive annual corruption of Rs 600 billion in various government departments.
He deplored that the government was reducing budget of education and health sector on the pretext of floods. Khurshid said over 20 million people have been affected by the floods and 20 percent crops have been destroyed and the government response to this calamity was very lukewarm.
He said that when the country was hit by the worst ever floods of its history, President of Pakistan was on foreign trip. He said that losses could have been minimised by making cut at the right places to divert the water. He called for an impartial inquiry into the reports that influential people have inundated the entire villages to protect their lands and crops. Those held responsible by the probe should be given sever punishment.
Professor Khurshid said that the government's role to deal with the flood crisis was disappointing and even the government failed to determine the preliminary losses in the last seven weeks. Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani said that the flood was a challenge for the nation and the government should have to devise a comprehensive strategy by taking on board all the forces to deal with its aftermath.
The need was that the government should have reduced the size of battalion of the ministers so that the problems of flood victims could be addressed. However, he said that nothing has been done so far in this regard, adding that the absence of elected representative from their constituencies during flood was deplorable. He said that rich and influential have protected their lands and crops at the cost of the poor.