The government has presented Rs 10.44 trillion charged expenditures included in demands for grants and appropriations, in the National Assembly for the financial year ending June 30, 2017. Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar presented the charge and expenditures included in demands for grants and appropriations in the House for discussion on Friday.
According to documents, charged expenditures including demands for grants and appropriations presented in the House were Rs 76.98 billion of External Development Loans and advances by the federal government, 8.388 trillion of repayment of domestic debt, Rs 1.25 trillion of Servicing of Domestic Debt, Rs 113 billion of Servicing of Foreign Debt, Rs 443.8 billion of Foreign Loans Repayment, Rs 141.4 billion of Repayment of Short Term Foreign Credits, Rs 1.75 billion of Supreme Court, Rs 469.6 million of Islamabad High Court, Rs 2.25 billion of election, Rs 586.7 million of Wafaqi Mohtasib and Rs 177.73 million of Federal Tax Ombudsman.
Similarly, as many as 92 demands of Rs 1 billion of Pakistan Railways, 35 demands of Rs 13 billion of grants-in-aid and miscellaneous adjustments between the federal and provincial governments, 81 demands of Rs 1.48 billion of the National Assembly, 82 demands of Rs 1.1 billion of the Senate, 22 demands of Pakistan Post Office Department of Rs 50 million, 34 demands and appropriations of Rs 4.7 billion of Superannuation Allowances and Pension, 47 demands of Rs 282 million for other expenditure of Foreign Affairs Division, Rs 6.35 million of civil works and 77 demands of Rs 199.995 million of other expenditure of Law and Justice Division were presented in the House.
While discussing the charged expenditures including demands for grants and appropriations, PPP MNA Nafisa Shah said that Members of the National Assembly should focus more on their performance in the house rather than their salaries, perks and privileges. She said that there is a big question mark on performance of the parliament as no pre-budget meeting of Standing Committee on Finance was held to discuss pros and cons of the budget.
She also urged the government to present details of all debts being obtained from China for different development projects. PTI MNA Shafqat Mahmood said that there is need to dispel the public impression that National Assembly is not active enough to resolve issues of the masses.
He urged the government to involve MNAs in the budget-making process as this would strengthen the parliament and the democracy. He said the government has not initiated steps to reform the judicial system and this was resulting in deterioration of public confidence in the justice system.