A treasury member on Wednesday joined the opposition chorus against the federal budget for fiscal year 2015-16 and declared the budget as 'tantamount to enmity with the country". The House continued debate on the motion moved by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar seeking recommendations to the National Assembly on Finance Bill 2015-16 with opposition lawmakers lambasting the government for what they said presetting anti-poor budget while treasury members leaving no stone unturned, terming budgetary proposals as 'best.'
The lawmakers called upon the government to avoid imposition of indirect taxes, saying that it will directly affect the common man and suggested effective tax reforms to bring the affluent class into the tax net. However, Usman Khan Kakar, parliamentary leader of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), a government ally, stunned treasury benches by out-rightly rejecting the budget.
He said that presenting such a 'visionless' budget in challenging situation was 'tantamount to enmity with the country'. "We have no option but to reject this budget on the grounds as it only serves the interests of the industrialists and privileged class," he asserted, adding that in such a situation the poor will become poorer while the rich get richer.
He opined that development of backward and less-developed areas should be prioritised to bring them at par with the developed one. He further said that 7.5 percent raise given to government employees was not enough and the tax should be levied on landlords and the privileged class. Referring to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project route controversy, he said the western route has already been decided to be completed on priority basis and called upon the opposition as well as the treasury benches to avoid fuelling controversies.
Taking part in the debate, PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed criticised the government for failing to allocate funds for National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) at the time when national security faces serious challenges on eastern as well as western borders. However, he welcomed the increase in the defence budget and said allocations should also be made to make NACTA operational.
He called upon the government to provide compensation to the families of the martyrs of the Army Public School in Peshawar and the families of the polio workers killed during immunisation drive across the country. Mushahid also urged the government to give priority to resolve energy crisis and broadening the tax net to push up economic growth rate. PPP's Farhatullah Babar said that the government did not intend to complete the western route of the CPEC as reflected by the allocation in the budget. "This is really a very dangerous political message," he warned, adding that the prime minister in May 28 APC had promised that the route will be completed on priority.
He said that Rs 20 billion had been allocation for western, which is only 12 percent of the total allocation for the project. Referring to the allocation for the martial plan for FATA, he said that the government sincerity can be judged from the fact that the figures in the budget only reflect that a university in tribal areas can be completed in 40 years.
He welcomed the up to 11 percent increase in defence budget but added that we must be transparent in the defence budget and the pensions should not be included in the civilian. PPP's Taj Haider was of the opinion that the most neglected sector was the agriculture in the budget 2015-16 despite the fact that the agriculture is considered as the backbone of the country's economy.
Referring to unresolved issues of the smaller provinces, he regretted that decisions that should be taken in the Council of Common Interest (CCI) are being taken in the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet. "The Sindh province has an outstanding amount of Rs 300 billion to be paid by the centre but it has been stopped. Sindh will strongly resist any injustice with its people and we will not tolerate such unfair treatment of the smaller provinces," he added.
PML-N Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq while defending the party's third budget, said that the foreign reserves increased during her party's government tenure while the government also allocates Rs 20 billion for the Prime Minister Youth Programme which would be helpful to create skilled youth. She further said that the government also increased the PSDP allocations for the year 2015-16 from Rs 525 billion to Rs 700 billion, adding that that the overall budgetary proposals for the next fiscal year were 'revolutionary and visionary'.
She said the government has presented a balanced and people-friendly budget with focus on providing maximum relief to the common man. She said that the measures announced in the budget will attract investment and create job opportunities for the youth. She said the next year budget also envisages incentives for agriculture sector including loans for small farmers and wavier of duties on solar tube-wells.
Muhammad Hamza of the PML-N stressed the need for an end to the duty on import of agriculture machinery including tractors, adding that the government needs to promote agriculture sector because it contributes greatly to the country's economy. He was of the view that it would have been better had the government taken the two houses into confidence before presenting the budget by sharing the challenges it faced with. Ahmad Hassan of PPP pointed out that FATA has been neglected in the development projects and also called upon the government to take measures for the welfare of the people of tribal areas.
Earlier, the opposition parties including PPP, PTI, ANP and PML-Q staged a token walkout from the House while alleging the government 'strategy' of not telecasting the speeches of the opposition lawmakers on the state-run television. PPP's Senator Saeed Ghani raised the issue on a point of order, saying that the government had given an assurance that it will telecast the proceedings of the budget sessions of the National Assembly as well as Senate but it failed to fulfil its promise.
He said that the PTV only broadcasted the speeches of the opposition leaders in National Assembly and the Senate but not of the other members belonging to opposition benches. He also alleged that in its 9pm news bulletin, PTV gives almost three minutes to PML-N's Mushahidullah Khan's speech while only one minute to opposition leader Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan.