PESHAWAR: Political parties including PML-N, ANP and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) have rejected the provincial budget for next financial year 2024-25 and termed it a jugglery of words and political stunt lacking relief for the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Addressing a Tehsil Bar Association (TBA) Lahor, district Swabi, the provincial president PML-N KP and Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions and Political Affairs, Engr Amir Muqam said it is a mixture of words having no relief for price hike and unemployment hit people of the province.
He said that for first time in the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the annual budget has been presented before the federal government, which is based on assumptions. He said that mostly the provinces present their budgets after analyzing the receipts and expenditures of the federal government and their share in the federal divisible pool to make allocations for the projects of their annual development programmes.
However, he said that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could not be deceived anymore by anyone. He said that people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had given mandate to KP rulers for solution of their problems and not for hoodwinking them through mere sloganeering, political gimmicks and posting of videos on social media.
The federal minister expressed the hope that the KP rulers will learn from the Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz who has set a new precedent of serving the people in the shortest period of time. He said that the PML-N government has once again put the country on the track of progress and development, saying Pakistan has returned back on the road of economic prosperity and problems of the people are being addressed at their doorsteps.
Awami National Party (ANP) has also rejected the provincial budget-2024-25 and termed it as jugglery of words and manipulation of the budgetary statistics and figures.
In a statement to comment over the budget of the KP government, Arsalan Khan, a spokesman of the party said that the presentation of budget ahead of the federal government is tantamount to deceiving the people. The total volume of the budget is 1754 billion with estimated receipts of Rs.1212 billion from the federal government in various heads as compared to its resources of merely Rs.93 billion. He also raised question on the tall claims of the presentation of Rs.100 billion surplus budget.
In Pakistan, the budget has become a joke, the public is allured through it while KP government has gone some steps forwards by presenting an illogical budget, said ANP spokesperson, adding, After the huge corruption in Billion Tree Tsunami Project, the budget for next financial also contains with a project labeled as Billion Tree Plus.
Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) has termed the provincial budget a political stunt as the provincial government would be unable to receive its estimated shares in the federal divisible pool.
In a statement, the provincial president of QWP Sikandar Hayat Sherpao said that the total estimated outlay of the budget is Rs1754 billion showing a surplus of Rs.100 billion but like past it would also prove a deficit budget. But this would turn out to be a deficit budget like the previous one. He accused the provincial government of using the constitutional matters as tactics to build pressure on the federal government and get relief for PTI and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024