Amid the opposition's chants of 'no', 'no', the National Assembly on Thursday okayed the historic Rs 217 billion overspending by the government's various departments with PM Secretariat taking the lead in drawing Rs 37.720 billion more than its budgetary allocation during 2005-06 fiscal.
After the general discussion, State Minister for Finance Omar Ayub delivered a 'provocative' winding up speech, with hooting from the opposition benches, prior to seeking the House approval for supplementary sums the government spent under 127 demands. The break-up is: Rs 202.848 billion under administrative tag and Rs 14.213 billion as per charged expenditure.
The minister paid tributes to President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for the economic turnaround, adding for the first time the provinces will get Rs 94.2 billion additional in the new fiscal with NWFP alone getting Rs 14.5 billion.
Omar Ayub said that as many as 16 recommendations of the Senate out of 36 had been incorporated in the budget. However, it was not immediately known what these exactly were. Opposition lawmakers flayed the government for what they alleged massive misuse of the public money in buying costly cars and other needless items. They wished no mini-budget would follow the main budget.
They questioned Shaukat Aziz's oft-repeated good governance and breaking the 'begging bowl' claims when the rulers overspent billions without bringing any significant change in the common man's life.
Congratulating the treasury and the opposition, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, before the Speaker Amir Hussain read out the President's prorogation order, reiterated his government's commitment to make Pakistan one of the greatest nations.
"We will continue our march forward step by step to make the masses prosperous," he maintained and said that, "Pakistan is dearest to us all. If God forbid anything happens to Pakistan, it hurts all. We will retaliate with full force if anyone dared to challenge our motherland".
He conceded that many challenges lie ahead, though Pakistan had made progress from a time when President Musharraf assumed power, seven years back. However, the Premier expressed dismay over the criticism of armed forces in the House and said that the armed forces are the national asset.
Shaukat Aziz paid tributes to the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and their staff for ensuring a conducive environment in the House during the budget session, which promoted democratic traditions.
He made it clear that the opposition's criticism was carefully listened and the government would benefit from it. "Nobody has exclusivity on wisdom," he smilingly remarked.
Reciprocating his words, the Speaker said that the level of speeches during the budget debate had added to the House dignity.
Many opposition MNAs participated in the discussion on supplementary demands for grants and appropriations with Pakistan Peoples' Party Parliamentarians' Aitzaz Ahsan, Khurshid Shah, Nafeesa Raja, Mehreen Anwar and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's Liaquat Baloch, Samia Raheel being most impressive.
Aitzaz contended that additional expenditures totally belied the government's claims of efficiency in the judicious fund usage. "This huge overspending is a wrong tradition at a time when the country suffered from the massive earthquake and the breaking of the begging bowl had been announced," he said.
The purchase of 80 bullet-proof cars, he added, was in contrast to the rulers' claim of good governance. The PPPP member dubbed the budget as a document of lavish spending.
Liaquat Baloch castigated the increased allocations for President House and said that this institution should have been a role model for other government departments to observe austerity.
The huge overspending under the supplementary demands for grants, he continued, made it very clear that the government had no viable economic policy to take the country forward. "The rulers' economic and foreign policies have been a failure".
PPPP's Khurshid Shah during his speech tried three times to get Prime Minister's attention, as he was busy with some MNAs and later with PML President Shujaat Hussain but in vain. Aziz usually prefers to exchange views with party lawmakers during the proceedings and Thursday was no exception.
Khurshid criticised Aziz for not paying attention to his speech and alleged that the government was following double standard: Giving Rs 5 million to opposition lawmakers while Rs 50-150 million to the treasury MNAs. "This way, 60 percent population is being ignored, as the opposition parties bagged more votes than the ruling coalition," he pointed out.
Samia Raheel recalled that the Prime Minister, in his first speech after taking over as premier, had promised good governance, but his largest ever cabinet ran contrary to it, as the ministers could not deliver.
"There has been no such a huge volume of supplementary grants in the past, which have been spent without taking the Parliament into confidence. It is shameful," she said.
Opposition lawmakers said that the government had overspent, bypassing the Parliament, whereas in India, the government has to seek prior approval of the parliament for spending each penny.
On one hand, parents are killing their children due to unemployment and unbridled price-hike, while on the other, the rulers are on an over-spending spree, they said and questioned the logic behind the construction of the multi-billion defence services complex.