ISLAMABAD : Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Saturday described the annual budget 2008-09 as a “negation of the Five Es election manifesto of PPP” and said it would put extra burden on poor masses.

Opening up the budget debate, Pervaiz Elahi said the budget was an “eye wash” and that it would cost the masses billions of rupees in terms of subsidy withdrawal and increase in General Sales Tax (GST).

He foresaw price hike, rise in unemployment, expensive agricultural inputs, costly flour and other edibles, industrial crunch and fat utility bills and said all this is going to add to masses’ hardships.

“After Ishaq Dar’s resignation, the Finance Ministry went headless and in such situation we could only expect a headless budget, he said.

He said briefing of Ishaq Dar to the international institutions at a meeting soon after assuming the charge, was the first step towards shaking the confidence of investors.

“When you talk of figure fudging and portray a bleak picture of economy, who will come to invest in Pakistan. When you portray an atmosphere of uncertainty and poor policies, can we expect investment, direly needed at this moment, Pervaiz said.

He accused the government of mismanagement and said mishandling of the Punjab Bank affairs by the provincial government had declined the Bank’s share in stock market from last year’s Rs 100 per share to Rs 10 per share at present.

He said due to poor policies, stock market suffered Rs 20 billion loss, capital flew out of the country and dollar exchange rate rose from Rs 60 to Rs 70 per dollar.

Discussing the manifesto points “Employment, Education, Energy, Environment and Equality”, Pervaiz Elahi compared the present government’s growth rate to the previous one and said cutting down growth rate by one per cent would decrease the employment volume.

Discussing ‘Employment, the Leader of the Opposition said, if there would be no investment, there would be no extra jobs.

For ‘Education,’ he referred to winding up of five projects of technical universities proposed to be set up with the assistance of Sweden, Germany, Austria, China and Italy.

“Our government had proposed three universities along motorway and one each in Islamabad and Karachi to equip our youth with latest technical education. But, unfortunately the government has done away with this project” he added.

Elahi said, only Rs 500 million have been allocated for Higher Education Commission (HEC) in this budget and all remaining 97% projects are of the previous government.

For Energy he said, it has announced to shelve Kalabagh Dam and meager allocations have been made for other projects like Neelum and Bhasha dams and canal lining.

He said subsidy on electricity has been reduced from previous Rs 113.5 billion to Rs 74 billion. This gap is going to be shifted to the consumers who will starting suffering of it from July.

He said the government has allocated just Rs 15 billion for the energy sector and this amount would be spent only to look after the ongoing projects and no new project could be started.

For Environment, he said the previous allocations of Rs 2.1 billion for this sector has been reduced to half and only Rs 100 million have been allocated for new projects.

For Equality, he said, there is no project or a clear policy to promote equality and overcome existing disparity.

“There is nothing in the budget to address masses disappointment and despondency. It is nothing more than some imaginations and some calculations,” Pervaiz Ilahi said.

Chaudhry Pervaiz Ilahi said the government has envisaged to overcome the deficit through estimated Rs 25 billion privatization and issuance of Rs 31 billion Global Bonds and asked if these measures would get proper response after Ishaq Dar’s portraying a bleak picture of the economy.

He said the government would have to draw loans on high interest rates, putting extra burden on masses as it also has allocated no funds for stabilizing wheat and oil prices and to meet other unseen expenditure.

Pervaiz said subsidy from DAP fertilizer has been reduced from previous 50% to 33% while prices of other inputs are also rising. This would bring in hardships for farmers.

He challenged announcement of increase in pension from Rs 300 to Rs 2000 and said pension was increased to Rs 1500 by the previous government and the present government has just increased Rs 500 in pension.

Pervaiz said even in allocations for PSDP, there is shortfall of Rs 77 billion and the federal government has asked provincial governments to keep Rs 79 billion cash balance with themselves.

He said the PML government provided Rs 175 billion subsidy on oil prices and reduction in subsidy would further increase the existing petrol and diesel prices up to Rs 10 per liter.

He criticized the Punjab government for what he claimed mismanagement and bad governance and mentioned to transfers of thousands of employees by Shahbaz Sharif even prior to becoming the Chief Minister.

He said the PML-N has no clear agenda or policy in its manifesto and their acts are negation of their slogan of Genuine Democracy.

Speaking on PPP’s popular slogan of “Roti (Bread), Kapra (Cloth) and Makaan (House)”, the Leader of the Opposition said withdrawal of Rs 20 billion subsidy from wheat would up flour price, making it harder for the poor to get Roti at affordable price.

For Kapra (Cloth), he said, industry is in crisis, 60% units are facing closure, interest rate on loans has increased three-fold and Rs 19 billion have been withdrawn from R & D sector.

For Makan (house), he mentioned Rs 100 per square yard tax on real estate and said it would make the situation more difficult for the poor to purchase a house or a plot.

Concluding his speech, Pervaiz Ilahi reiterated opposition’s continued cooperation with the government in all welfare-oriented measures and smooth functioning of the Parliament.

“This time the House saw no clamor at the time of presenting the budget. We listened calmly, we studied budget thoroughly and have validly pointed out the flaws,” he said. APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2008

Bookmark with:

More from Pakistan