Opposition terms budget disappointing for the poor

The opposition political parties on Tuesday termed the federal budget 2014-15, as 'visionless and disappointing' for the poor, but would serve the interests of the wealthy and industrialist class. Reacting to second federal budget of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regime, the lawmakers belonging to various opposition parties were of the opinion that the budget was welcoming only for the capitalists and businessmen, and offers no relief to the common man, who they said is grinding under the inflation and heavy indirect taxes.
Commenting on the budget, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentarian Shafqat Mehmood summed it up like this: "It was a budget of the rich, by the rich and for the rich", adding it has nothing but a complete disappointment for the poor. He said that the PML-N government, as usual has facilitated the wealthy class at the cost of the poor, adding that the budget does not offer any relief to the common man to meet the basic necessities.
The PTI leader said that the government has allocated billions of rupees for new highways and communication network, whereas railways has been ignored, which is being used by a common man. Asad Omar, another PTI lawmaker, while reacting, described the budget as total pro-businessmen, saying the budget simply shows that PML-N represents only the rich class. He said that the government is only offering relief to the foreign companies for investment, which will not only affect the local companies, but the policy will also badly impact the tax revenue.
He said that the foreign companies pay only 20 percent tax as against 60 percent by the local companies. "This is not acceptable and the special favour given to foreign companies force us to believe as the era of East India Company is being repeated, which would have serious repercussion", he added.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) MNA Dr Nafeesa Shah also lashed out at the government, saying that the PML-N government failed to offer anything for the working class, farmers and common man in general. She termed the ad hoc relief of 10 percent for the government employees as a joke with them, saying that it would not provide any relief to them to cope with the sky-rocketing inflation. She also accused the Finance Minister for fudging the figures. She also maintained that the government has also missed most of the targets as shown by the Economic Survey of Pakistan released the other day. Another PPP's lawmaker Senator Babar Awan said that the budget seems to be prepared by the industrialists for the businessmen and lacks any relief and hope for a common man, adding the entire the economic policies of the PML-N government revolves around business cronies.
He warned that it would result in mass street agitation and the government should prepare itself for the reaction of the masses. Awami National Party (ANP) and former chief minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti said that the government should have given relief to the masses with an equal proportion to the rising inflation and price hike. He said that the 10 percent increase in the salaries of the government employees is totally insufficient as compared to the ratio of the inflation.
He said that the masses could be given relief when there is decrease in electricity tariff, gas rates and prices of the essential commodities. Another ANP leader Senator Zahid Khan, while reacting described the budget as an anti-poor and pro-rich one, which will badly affect the common man. He further said that the budget offers no relief on electricity tariff, gas and edibles.
Chairman Awami Muslim League (AML), Sheikh Rashid Ahmad criticised the government for presenting the 'visionless' budget, saying that it has nothing to give relief to the poor masses. Referring to the 10 percent increase in salaries, he said the rulers were busy in making their bank balances while they are giving only 10 percent to salaried class adding budget has shattered the hope of a common man.
Referring to the 4.4 percent growth, he accused Finance Minister for disinformation, saying the actual growth rate is 3.6 percent. He also pointed out that the government is attracting investment only from two countries for kickbacks. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, commenting on the budget, said though his party would give its reaction on the budget in coming few days, yet he backed the imposition of taxes on the wealthy class.
Sahibzada Tariqullah of Jamaat-i-Islami said that the government has only rewarded the industrialist class in the budget while ignoring the poor class of the country. He also pointed out that no allocations have been made for any mega project in the smaller provinces like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which is injustice with the people of the smaller provinces. Independent MNA Jamshid Dasti, blasted the government for what he described the budget as an extremely anti-poor, which would only serve the interests of the industrialists and landlords. "This is a budget which has been prepared on the dictation of IMF and the Finance Minister is just acting like an agent of the IMF', he maintained.