KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Saturday approved the provincial budget of Rs1.24 trillion for the FY 2020-21 with a majority vote amid opposition noisy protest.

The house also passed a supplementary budget of Rs30.16 billion for 2019-20, besides Rs779.384 million of additional spending, which includes Rs5.713 million for the Sindh Governor House, and Rs2.683 million for the Chief Minister House.

The assembly turned down four cut motions of the opposition since their mover - PTI MPA Adeeba Hassan was absent from the session but adopted 43 supplementary demands for grants.

Opposition Leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi asked the treasury that what made it to present a supplementary budget. On which Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who also holds the portfolio of finance minister, replied that the supplementary budget was for the Sindh Governor House Secretariat, the Sindh Culture Department, and the Sindh Police. When Murad began placing the budget for approval from the legislature, the opposition lawmakers stood up from their seats starting chants to reject the next financial plan of the province. "An impression is being given that Karachi was left out from budget spending but the fact is that Karachi's development projects will receive billions of rupees foreign financial assistance," Murad told the house, saying that the government has allocated over Rs2 billion for Karachi's district ADP.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020