Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has termed Budget-2016-17 directionless and said that the government could not overcome the load-shedding by end 2018 as it could not timely complete the energy projects. The Opposition Leader expressed these views while initiating debate on Budget-2016-17 in the National Assembly on Monday.
He said, "Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) presented directionless Budget-2016-17 in the House and there is no relief for the common people in it. There is confusion in the Budget-2016-17 and it is difficult to describe it as people, farmer or worker friendly. The government did not take any measure to control the inflation and to provide benefit to the young people."
Khursheed Shah said the government has been talking about overcoming the power shortages but the claim is not backed by solid work. He said that all the projects relating to electricity announced by the government would not be completed timely. He said that Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project, extension of Tarbela Dam, Daso Hydro Power Project, Construction of Diamer Basha Dam, project of Chashma Nuclear Power and other projects would not be completed timely.
He said that even the government could not complete railway track for transportation of coal for Sahiwal coal project. He said that coal would be imported from Malaysia for this project. He said that this project is starting in the city which damages its greenery, environment and to affect the health of the people. He claimed that coal projects launched by the government would pollute the atmosphere of the country.
He said that Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Project and Nandipur Power Project had badly failed because they are not generating single megawatt of electricity. He said that there is no improvement in Daso Power Project. He said that the PML-N government has only increased 350MW electricity in the national grid station. The Leader of the Opposition said that due to expensive electricity for the industries, the production of different products has been reduced.
Syed Khursheed Shah proposed that instead of coal based plants the focus should be on hydel power to produce cheaper and environment-friendly power. He said that the country needs more water reservoirs and we could face a big challenge of water shortage in future. He said that out country has capacity to store 30 million cubic feet water.
About the agriculture sector, the Opposition Leader said that it is facing crisis and hoped that the package announced in the budget would be implemented in letter and in spirit. He said that 40 percent of the population is related to agriculture sector while the government is continually ignoring it. He said that the government had missed target 3.9 percent of GDP but went into negative 0.19 percent.
He suggested that sales tax on tractors should be abolished to provide relief to farmers.
He said that there is 4.3 percent deficit in current Budget-2016-17 but it reached at 6 percent. if we include 600 circular debts. He said that the government should not hide anything from the nation. Today a child is burden by debt of Rs 100,750, he said. He said tendency of relying heavily on debt should be discarded and instead we should learn to live within our own resources. He said that total domestic loan is Rs 13.39 trillion and there is Rs 5 trillion increase in three years of this government. He said that foreign debt has been increased Rs 5.769 trillion in three years. He said that debt to GDP ratio has increased 63.2 % but the government did not take its approval from the Parliament which is violation of the constitution.
He claimed that the government has imposed more than Rs 30 tax on the petroleum products. He said that price of petroleum products has been decreased at the international level but the government did not transfer its relief to the people. He said benefits of the reduction in the prices of the petroleum products should be transferred to the masses. He said that the government has announced 4.7 percent GDP growth but independent experts say that the actual growth is 3.5 percent. There is a serious difference in the growth, he said.
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