Joint Opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Monday clashed with Speaker Asad Qaiser for violation of rules and procedures of the house. The opposition was angry over the non-provision of agenda of the house proceedings to the members of the house. The provincial assembly resumed debate on the budget for financial year 2017-8 with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair.
Debate on the budget was in process when Sardar Hussain Babak, a parliamentary leader of ANP took the floor on a point of order and complained of the violation of rules. He said that according to rules and procedures of the house, the Assembly Secretariat is required to provide agenda of the house two-day prior of the debate.
He said when the legislators do not receive agenda of the house on time then how they can prepare themselves for giving their input in the budget. He announced protest walkout from the proceedings of the house against the attitude of the provincial government. He was also joined by the legislator of other opposition parties in the walkout.
The Speaker rejected the point of order of Sardar Hussain Babak and said that debate on the budget was continued since last three days and ruled out the violation of rules and regulations.
Regarding the provision of the agenda of the house, the Speaker said it was available on the website of the house and even declined to constitution of Jirga for negotiations with opposition. However, with the consent of the Speaker, the two senior ministers Sikandar Hayat Sherpao and Inayatullah held negotiations with the opposition and succeeded in bringing them back to the house.
Meanwhile, members from opposition and treasury benches of the house expressed mixed reaction to the budget. Opposition legislators including Sahibzada Sanaullah of PPP Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, Sardar Zahoor Ahmad, Reshad Khan, Mian Zia-ur-Rehman and Sobia Shahid of PML-N and Azam Khan Durrani of JUI-F criticised PML-N for failure in giving relief to the people of the province in the budget and ignoring opposition's constituencies in the development budget of the province.
But, on the other hand, Ziaullah Bangash, Dr Haider Ali and Shah Mohammad Khan Wazir of PTI defended the budget as people -friendly. However, Meraj Hamayun of QWP complained of total ignoring of the women population. She also complained of no mention of the strengthening of the KP Commission on the Status of Women and the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI) and reflection of no plans to start a capacity building program for young political workers. She said women empowerment had been totally overlooked in the budget.
In response to the points raised by the opposition, the Senior Minister for Local Government, Inayatullah dispelled the impression of the deficit budget, saying reflection of loans in receipts is carried out across the country. He agreed with the proposals of the capacity building of local government.
Similarly, Provincial Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education, Mohammad Atif Khan said that during last five years the budget of education has been increased by 100 percent. He said 450 new schools have been constructed and additional rooms have been constructed in more than 10,000 schools. He said latrines have been constructed in 17,500 schools and electric water dispensers have been installed in 13,600 schools. The provision of these missing facilities in school, he said had cost Rs 21 billion.
He further highlighted other initiatives of the provincial government in health sector particularly the recruitment of 40,000 teachers on pure merit, saying 15,000 more teachers will be recruited next month and imparting on service training to 83,000 teachers through British Council. The Speaker Asad Qaiser later adjourned the proceedings of the house till today (Tuesday) 2:00 PM.
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