PML-N MPA Sardar Awais Leghari presented the Punjab budget for the financial year 2022-23 in the budget session held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal in Lahore on Wednesday, while another session was held under the chairmanship of Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. Happened simultaneously in the provincial legislature.
Parallel sessions were held after the government and the opposition failed to resolve their differences. This was probably the first time that different sessions of the Punjab Legislative Assembly were held simultaneously.
Two days after the Punjab Assembly session was called, the budget was presented due to the negligence of the provincial government. deadlock with speaker. The total outlay of the budget was Rs 3,226 billion.
The government allocated a whopping amount of Rs 685 billion under the Annual Development Program (ADP) initiatives in the interest of the poor and with special focus on controlling inflation. No new tax has been imposed in the budget.
In terms of development sectors, the highest allocation of Rs 272.6 billion was for the social sector, including Rs 172.55 billion for the health sector and Rs 64.56 billion for the education sector. Additionally, Rs 164 billion was allocated for infrastructure development, including Rs 80.8 billion for the road sector.
The budget session, chaired by Elahi, resumed at 2:40 pm, 1.5 hours later than the scheduled time, and began with prayers for deceased MNA Amir Liaquat Hussain, former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director Mohammad Rizwan, who served as the chief minister. The allegations of money laundering against Minister Shahbaz were investigated. Sharif and Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz and died of a heart attack last month and Malik Maqsood Ahmed – often referred to as ‘Maqsood’Chaprasi’ – a central figure in the money laundering case, who passed away in the UAE earlier this month.
Later, PTI Central Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid moved a privilege motion against Provincial Minister Ataullah Tarar for making “obscene gestures” and violating the privileges of the assembly.
PTI’s Momina Waheed said Tarar’s gesture “violated the dignity of women”.
The motion was accepted and the Speaker referred it to the concerned committee for finalization within two months.
Reading: Atta Tarar, Punjab Assembly There is no place for middle finger
Meanwhile, Mian Mohammad Aslam Iqbal, another MLA of the former ruling party, said that PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz should have condemned Tarar’s actions.
“I’ve been asked to speak less [but] We are not sold. we stand together [former prime minister] Imran Khan,” he insisted.
Former Law Minister Mohammad Basharat Raja demanded that the room allotted to Tarar in the provincial legislature be taken back.
He also claimed that the current Punjab government wants to arrest the MPs on a “large scale”.
The session chaired by Elahi also struck down the Punjab Laws (Repeal and Removal of Difficulties) Ordinance 2022, which was announced by the governor yesterday, adding that the secretary of the law and parliamentary affairs department will issue the notification when the governor or the speaker shall be summoned or a session shall be prorogued.
The ordinance also repealed the Punjab Secretariat (Services) Act 2019 of the Provincial Assembly, the Punjab Privileges (Amendment) Act 2021 of the Provincial Assembly (XXI of 2021) and the Punjab Privileges (Amendment) Act 2021 of the Provincial Assembly (XXVI). 2021).
The Amendment Act added a schedule to the original 1972 Act, punishing a bureaucrat for breach of privilege of the House, any of its committees or members, and conferring judicial powers on the Speaker and/or the committee nominated by him . on infringement.
Reacting to the ordinance in today’s session, Raja termed it a “shameful act”. He claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz had “pleaded” for the amendment law to be passed.
Thereafter, the session chaired by Elahi was adjourned till 1 pm on Thursday (tomorrow).
The standoff between the government, the opposition
The Punjab Assembly witnessed a day-long drama on Monday as Speaker Elahi refused permission to hold the session and present the provincial budget, before the Inspector General of Police (IGP) apologized to him and all the cases registered against PTI. demanded its withdrawal. and in relation to PML-Q activists and lawmakers, anarchy 16 April session,
After brief proceedings of the House followed by back-to-back meetings between the treasury and the opposition for more than six hours, the Speaker took a strong stand on the absence of the Chief Secretary and the IGP and said proceedings would continue only if both the officers were present in the assembly gallery.
After adjourning the proceedings until 11 p.m., Elahi adjourned the session until 1 p.m. on Tuesday – without permission for the presentation of the province’s budget for fiscal year 2022-23.
However, the proceedings could not proceed again when the 40th session of the Assembly resumed on Tuesday. Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz, who appeared disappointed with the speaker’s strategy, announced that he would come up with another strategy to tackle the problem.
Later in the day, Governor Balighur Rahman Cancelled The ongoing 40th session and 41st session at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, about 700 meters away from Punjab Vidhan Sabha, was summoned on Wednesday (today) at 2 pm. However, despite the Governor’s orders, the Speaker announced that the 40th session would continue.
Reportedly, the Punjab government had shown some flexibility in withdrawing cases against PTI MPs and workers, but was unwilling to bow down to the presence of the IGP and CS before the Speaker and opposition MPs in the House. A source said, “Hamza is taking instructions in this matter from the top leadership of the party, which has asked him not to accept the demands of the opposition.”
Speaker Elahi, in a conversation with reporters on Tuesday night, termed the proposed Aiwan-e-Iqbal session as illegal and unconstitutional.
Opposition believes parallel session ‘as it will be’mockThe election of Hamza as the chief minister was organized by the PML-N at a local hotel a few months back.
Former Election Commission (ECP) secretary of Pakistan Kunwar Dilshad said, don news tv that Ilahi was interpreting the law and the constitution “incorrectly”.
“All constitutional and legal powers are vested in the Governor of Punjab. The Speaker has no power to convene a session of the provincial assembly,” he said.
“The real authority lies with the Governor of Punjab and the session he has called in Aiwan-e-Iqbal… to prevent chaos and danger. I do not understand the law according to which an experienced politician like Chaudhry Parvez Elahi called the session was. “
Meanwhile, PTI leaders criticized the parallel budget sessions, with former Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar calling it a “tamasha”.
Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that Punjab is facing the worst constitutional and administrative crisis.
Referring to the ongoing cases challenging Hamza’s election as chief minister, he said, “neither the chief minister nor the cabinet is known.”
“come out of [your] Desire and arrogance. give people a chance [so] political crisis may reach its final conclusion and [we] Proceed to the polls,” he tweeted.
budget proposal
Meanwhile, the budget approved earlier by the cabinet proposes a 15 per cent hike in salaries of public sector employees, 5 per cent increase in pension of retired officers and Rs 109.1 billion for foreign-funded projects. The proposed budget envisages a wide range of subsidy and relief packages worth Rs 190.58bn, and around Rs 1.712 trillion for service delivery across various sectors – 20pc more than the current fiscal’s 1.428tr.
According to the budget document, the government’s major initiatives during the next financial year are proposed to be Rs 100 billion for social security (utility assistance programme) and Rs 31.5 billion for South Punjab alone.
Other major projects include Rs 9 billion for road rehabilitation programme, Rs 5 billion for land acquisition for development projects, Rs 1.35 billion for minority development and Rs 1.5 billion for provision of laptops to students.
The proposed sectoral allocations would be Rs 1,083.69 billion for social and Rs 216.68 billion for infrastructure development, Rs 127.32 billion for production, Rs 663.15 for services and Rs 306.09 billion for special initiative sectors.
Additional reporting by Ali Waqar.