LAHORE - Rejecting the Punjab Budget 2014-15, Opposition in Provincial Assembly has opined that there is no relief for the have-nots in it and warned the rulers of a massive revolution if the rulers continue pursuing the anti-working classes’ financial plans.
PML-Q, one of the opposition parties rejecting the budget 2014-15 has announced to stage protest demonstrations against the increasing prices of various items, which would further rise after the new provincial budget.
PTI Punjab president, Ijaz Chaudhary, expressing his party’s point of view on the budget Friday said, “There is no relief for the working classes in the budget 2014-15, while 10 per cent increase in the salaries of government employees is merely a joke.”
He said that the police department was allocated funds double than education and health, which was infamous for carrying out extra-judicial killings.
Ijaz claimed that more than 60 per cent of the police force was busy protecting the members of the ruling family and cabinet members. He also criticised the Punjab government’s spending on Metro Bus schemes, saying that the energy sector badly needed to be boosted.
He claimed that health was never the priority of the provincial government, while announcement of new laptop scheme would not give any boost to the education sector. PPP Punjab president, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo has also castigated the Punjab government for presenting a budget, which is analogous to a bird in hand for the privileged section of society and nothing for the have-nots except empty promises. He said that there was no good news for the farmer community, which established the fact that provincial rulers would continue anti-farmers policy in financial year of 2014-15. Manzoor claimed that the budget reflects government’s discriminatory development strategy.
PML-Q’s Punjab leaders, Raja Basharat, Seemal Kamran and party MPAs Sardar Waqas Hassan Moakal and Amir Sultan Cheema rejecting the budget 2014-15 announced that they would stage protest demonstrations against the rising prices. They said that the provincial rulers have failed to give relief to the poor in its 7th consecutive budget of PML-N. They added that the budget for metro bus projects was more than what was allocated for education and clean water.
Demanding an increase of 25 per cent in the salaries of government employees, they said that an increase of Rs100 billion had been shown in the provincial taxes, which meant that secret taxes would be levied.
JI Punjab president, Syed Waseem Akhtar commenting over the budget 2014-15 said that there was no relief for common man in that.
He claimed that the budget would add to the difficulties of the working classes, which were committing suicides due to inaccessible prices to adopt even a below average lifestyle.