Members of Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Wednesday against what they said ignoring smaller provinces in the federal budget and Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the next fiscal year. A meeting of the Committee, which held here to discuss recommendations on the finance bill, faced pandemonium after members from Balochistan accused the Chairman of the Committee Saleem Mandviwalla of taking the government side.
"We are feeling that you (chairman) are taking government's side and may have some interests" alleged Fateh Muhammad Hassani, who was supported by Senator Kalsoom Perveen and Usman Khan Kakar. Senator Ilyas Balour said: "the government has allocated Rs 60 billion in the outgoing federal development budget for Punjab-based two LNG projects but did not allocate anything for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa projects. There is nothing in the budget for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and Balochistan."
Usman Khan Kakar termed the development budget as Punjab-specific, saying there was nothing for other provinces. "Orange Train Project is funded under CPEC for Punjab while the government was not ready to give 3 kilometer Quetta Circular Railway to the people of Balochistan. At one point he said he would withdraw his proposals as protest against Chairman of the Committee. "We will walk out from the committee if our projects were not discussed in the committee," he said and added the committee must recommend the members recommendations to the National Assembly otherwise Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal would lay entire blame for non- inclusion of these projects to the representative of Balochistan and state that they have not recommended these projects.
Senators Usman Khan Kakar, Sardar Azam Musakhel and others gave a number of recommendations primarily relating to different projects in Balochistan. The committee also considered the proposal to establish a Forestry University in Ziarat. Senator Usman Khan Kakar underscored the need for establishing a livestock university in District Musa Khel.
Recommendations concerning 1000 MW solar, wind, gas and coal power projects on CPEC western route were discussed and postponed for tomorrow to be discussed in presence of Water and Power Ministry's representatives. Kuchlak to Zhob Motorway, Zhob to D. I. Khan motorway and Bostan-Kohat Railway line were decided to be discussed tomorrow in presence of NHA officers.
The committee also held in-depth discussions over recommendations moved by Senator Siraj ul Haq. Senate Standing Committee on Finance also approved Corporate Restructuring Companies Bill, 2016 as well as Deposit Protection Corporations Bill 2016 and 'Financial Institutions (Secured Transactions) Bill 2016.
The meeting was attended among others by Senators Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Saud Majeed, Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Kamil Ali Agha, Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani, Mohsin Aziz, Mushahidullah Khan, Usman Khan Kakar , Kalsoom Parveen and Siraj-ul-Haq. Secretary Finance, Chairman FBR and senior officers of the attached departments were also present during the meeting.
Comments
Comments are closed.