ISLAMABAD, Jun 30 (APP): The National Assembly on Wednesday approved 174 supplementary grants for last three fiscal years including 2020-21, 2019-20 and 2018-19.
The House passed 49 supplementary worth Rs 487.152 billion for fiscal year 2020-21, 44 supplementary grants worth Rs 590.270 billion for fiscal year 2019-20 and 81 supplementary grants worth Rs 169.163 billion for fiscal year 2018-19.
Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin and Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi moved the supplementary grants one by one in the House.
The supplementary demands were related to various ministries and departments including Cabinet Division, Aviation Division, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Communication Division, Defence Services, Power Division, Federal Education and professional Training Division, HEC, National Heritage and Cultural Division, Subsidies and Miscellaneous Expenditure, Federal Board of Revenue, Housing and Works Division, Industries and Production Division, Information and Broadcasting Division, Information Technology and Telecommunication, Interior Division, Law and Justice Division, NAB, Narcotics Control Division, National Food Security and Research Division, National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Division, Privatization Division, Religious Affairs and Inter Faith Harmony, Planning and Development and Special Initiatives Division, Petroleum Division, Railways, Water Resources, Establishment Division, Finance Division, Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, Passport Organization, Civil Armed Forces, Frontier Constabulary, Pakistan Coast Guards, Pakistan Rangers, Textile Division and Commerce Division etc.
Earlier, Rana Tanveer Hussain of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) opened debate on supplementary grants and termed them against the financial discipline which needed to be curtailed in future. He demanded of the government to maintain good governance and ensured transparency and financial accountability.
He said such grants should be spent for the welfare of the masses and reduction of inflation in the country.
Shaiza Marri of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) alleged that funds were being used for arms twisting of the opposition leaders.
She suggested that cut motions should be allowed on the grants so these allocations could be made rational. She alleged that despite tall claims, the government was not following austerity measures and undue grants were given to various ministries and departments.
Shahida Akhtar Ali of Muttahida Majlis e Amal Pakistan (MMAP) said that such grants were tantamount to in-efficiency of various ministries and departments which could not make their proper budgets for the whole year.
She said almost all ministries sought supplementary grants which were totally contrary to the claims of financial discipline.
Ahsan Iqbal of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) said the Chairman NAB claimed repeatedly that the bureau had recovered over Rs 400 billion. “Despite tall claims of huge recovery, around Rs 5.5 billion supplementary grants was given to NAB,” he said. He alleged that the NAB was being used for political engineering in the country.
He also sought justification for giving Rs 8 billion supplementary grant to the Prime Minister House.
Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali observed massive power load-shedding was being carried out in various parts of the country despite giving huge supplementary grants to the Power Division. Similarly, he questioned the performance of various ministries and department including Interior, information, telecommunication and Higher Education Commission etc.
He alleged that the interior ministry failed to maintain law and order in the country.
Shamim Ara Panawar of PPPP said that development funds were only given to members of treasury benches while the opposition lawmakers were totally ignored in funds distribution.
She alleged that Sindh province was also being ignored in development scheme despite generating 70 per cent of the total country’s revenue.
Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha of PML-N said the supplementary grants for the last three years were not shown in the budget documents.
Dr Shahnaz Baloch of BNP-M said no supplementary grants were allocated for the development of Balochistan province. Water was not available in Gwardar but no project was launched for it, she pointed out.
Shaista Pervaiz Malik of PML-N called for bringing financial discipline in the affairs of various ministries and departments. She said the government did not pay honorarium to the employees of various department deputed for budget coverage during the last three years.
Mohsin Dawar of said HEC was facing host of problems for the last few years. The employees of Peshawar University, set up after the independence of Pakistan were not getting salaries for last few months due to financial crunch, he added.
Abdul Qadir Mandokhel of PPPP criticized the government for granting huge supplementary grants to various ministries and departments. He called for curtailing this practice to bring strict financial discipline.
Salahuddin Ayub of MMAP and others also took part in the debate.
Later, the Finance Minister laid schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2021-2022 and supplementary Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2020-21, 2019-2020 and 2018-19 in the House under Article 83 of the Constitution.
