MNAs focus on inflation, agriculture in budget debate

ISLAMABAD, Jun 18 (APP): Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) from both sides of the aisle on Friday held a debate on the Federal Budget 2021-22 with special focus on controlling inflation and making more corrective measures to strengthen the agriculture sector, which was considered as the backbone of the national economy.

Taking part in the budget debate, Asad Mehmood of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan (MMAP) claimed that no relief was given in the budget for the masses. An amount of Rs 54 billion was allocated for the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas while the budget for Higher Education Commission (HEC) had been reduced, he added.

Endorsing the suggestions given by Leader of the Opposition Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, he called for abolishing taxes on essential items, including milk for children.

He also demanded more increase in the salaries of government employees and fixing minimum wages at Rs 25,000.

Ghous Bakhs Mehar of Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) called for more subsidies on fertilizers so that the farmers could increase agriculture production.

He said the agriculture was considered as the backbone of a country’s economy and without giving incentives self-sufficiency of agri production could not be achieved.

He stressed the need to provide solar technology for running agri tube-wells. He also called for lining of canals to control water logging and water wastage.

He appreciated the government for giving better budget in the current scenario. However, he demanded more allocation for the agriculture sector in the budget.

Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claimed that indirect taxation would further overburden the masses, and cause inflation.

Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh of the Pakistan Thehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said the government gave equal attention to provide basic facilities, including health, education and electricity to all areas.

He expressed the hope that the government would launch the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC) project in next year which would usher a new era of progress and development in less developed areas.

Prof Dr Shahnaz Baloch of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) said assembly seats should be enhanced for Balochistan. She said Balochistan was a under developed province, which needed special attention to bring it par with other development parts of country.

Sardar Talib Hussain Nakai of the PTI said the incumbent government inherited $ 19.8 billion current account deficit and over $35 billion trade deficit. The country had foreign reserves enough for only two weeks when the PTI came into power, he added.

However owing to the visionary policies of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said, the country had been put again on right track of progress.

He suggested that the agriculture sector should be given the status of an industry to bring a green revolution in the country.

He said the government introduced Health and Kisan Cards to provide relief to the common people and farmers.

He appreciated the government’s Ehsaas Programme and stressed the need to further expand it.

Nawab Yousaf Talpur of the PPP said Sindh generated 70 per cent of the country’s total revenue and demanded more funds for the province.

Ghazala Saifi of PTI the termed the budget visionary as it would change the mindset of the people.

She said the budget for Ehsaas Programme had been tripled in order to give massive relief to the poor class.

Taking part in the debate, PTI’s Gul Zafar Khan called for giving share of funds to the merged tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award as per their population in order to make available more resources for their development.

The Speaker referred the matter to the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue in the public interest.

As regards the budget, Gul Zafar Khan said the government had provided huge relief to common people, particularly through funds allocations for the health, education and agriculture sectors.

Mahesh Kumar Malani of PPP asked the government to take steps for containing the inflation. He called for provision of more health, education and other basic facilities of life in the rural Sindh, especially remote areas of Thar, and allocation of funds for infrastructure projects.

He also urged the government to end electricity electricity load-shedding in Thar district.
PTI’s Uzma Riaz Khan hailed different measures proposed by the government in the coming budget to provide relief to the common people. The PTI government had achieved 4 percent GDP growth rate and 15 percent growth in large scale manufacturing in the current year, which was appreciable, she added.

She demanded a special package for the Hazara Division to resolve different issues of infrastructure, health, education and clean water. She stressed that more funds for the divison in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2021-22.

Sobia Kamal of the PTI said the budget 2021-22 gave a huge relief to the low income people as considerable amounts were allocated for social service programme.

She said the opposition parties were playing political gimmicks and targeting the national institutions for destabilizing the democratic system.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, she said, emerged as the world leader and achieved successes both at both international and national fronts. It was under his visionary leadership, Pakistan had achieved economic stability and was now moving on the path to progress, she added.

Sobia Kamal said the PTI government’s strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic was appreciated by the international community, she added.

The government, she said, had allocated a lot of resources for research to introduce more innovation to increase agriculture produce.Shahida Rehmani of the PPP underlined the need for upholding the sanctity of the Parliament and said there should be no use of indecent language in the House.

She recounted services of her party leadership for strengthening of democratic and parliamentary norms in the country.

The lawmaker expressed concern over reduction of duty on import of garments, saying that it would affect the country’s textile sector and garments industry.

PTI’s Asma Qadeer said the government had presented such a budget that would be beneficial for all segments of the society, including farmers, youth and business community.

She said the national economy was on the right track and its benefits were being passed on to the common man through different welfare schemes like housing, interest-free loans, technical training and health cards.

She defended the government’s efforts to give the right to vote to overseas Pakistanis, who were playing a vital role in strengthening the national economy through their remittances, through Internet-Voting method.

PML-N’s Tahira Aurangzeb said prices of essential items and utility bills’ charges had considerably increased that were causing difficulties for the common man.

PTI’s Farooq Azam Khan said when the present government came into power in 2018, the national economy was in deteriorating condition, but now the country’s financial health had started improving with the prudent policies introduced by the government.

He highlighted the civic problems being faced by residents of his constituency in Bahawalpur and requested the government to connect this locality with the Motorway network.

Muhammad Hashim Notezai of BNP was of the view that insufficient allocations had been made for health and education sectors in the federal budget, and requested the government to resolve the problems confronted by people of Balochistan and remove their backwardness.

He suggested the government to withdraw taxes imposed on dairy products, further increase salaries of government employees considerably as 10 percent raise was insufficient and fix the minimum wages of labourers at Rs 25,000 per month.

Mir Munawar Ali Talpur of the PPP said the Sindh province should be given its due share of water so that needs of the agriculture sector could be met there.

Rana Iradat Sharif Khan of the PML-N said the allocation of Rs 2 billion for ‘agriculture productivity’ was extremely insufficient in the budget and needed to be enhanced, besides special focus should be given for promotion of research and development in this field.