Punjab Assembly Passes Supplementary Budget 2019-20

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2020 ) :The Punjab Assembly on Tuesday passed the supplementary budget worth over Rs 175 billion for the fiscal year 2019-20 through majority vote while cut motions were rejected to the ire of the opposition.

The Punjab Assembly started one hour 55 minutes behind its scheduled time of 2 p.m.

Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi chaired the session which passed the supplementary budget 2019-20. Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar was present in the House The opposition was once again ready to cut loose and turn the House into a pandemonium when the Leader of the House Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar took the dais to speak but it was the intervention of the Chair who restrained the opposition from intruding during the speech of the Chief Minister Buzdar.

Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, while speaking at the floor of the House, said under-construction building of the Punjab Assembly was a picture of political victimization and antagonism by the PML-N government of Shehbaz Sharif, adding that development projects of the out-going governments were frozen by the in-coming governments in the past.

"For the first in history, the PTI government will complete the on-going projects like Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) and the others", he asserted.

The chief minister announced three basic salaries for the staff of Punjab Assembly, Law, and Finance departments to recognize their services in the preparation and presentation of the annual budget 2019-20 He said the PTI government resolved problems faced by the public in provision of coronavirus medicine, adding that there was no shortage of COVID related medicine. "My government announced additional allowances for doctors who fought against the deadly virus" He said Rs.106 billion had been allocated to cope with COVID-19, adding that the province had achieved a capacity of 12,000 coronavirus tests per day while the number of was only 100 in the beginning of the challenge. He said there are 9,276 oxygen beds, 2,600 high dependency units and 2,302 ventilators in the province.

The chief minister said the government had announced Shaheed package for all professionals who died in containing coronavirus pandemic.

Buzdar said the government had allocated 33 per cent funds for the South Punjab in the Punjab budget 2020-21, while 1.5 billion rupees were earmarked for the construction of secretariat in the South Punjab.

He said state land worth 135 billion rupees was got vacated from the land mafia.

Referring to play its role in the development of Balochistan, he said the PTI government established a technical college in Kharan area, community center in Taftan area, and a hospital consisting of 100 beds in Turbat.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar paid rich tribute to Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat, Finance department on record legislation.

Usman Buzdar said despite strong opposition, the record legislation in Punjab was a testament to Raja Basharat's political acumen, long parliamentary experience and deep knowledge of the law. �He said that in approving the people friendly and tax relief budget in the most difficult circumstances, the Punjab Law Minister not only showed wisdom but poise before a fiery opposition. �He said that Raja Basharat's foresight provided timely legal protection to government measures against the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and also set a new parliamentary history by extending Punjab Infectious Diseases Prevention Ordinance 2020 to save its people from troubles during the budget session. � The chif minister said Raja Basharat always supported the government in difficult situations and gave all possible assistance to the Speaker in running the proceedings of the Assembly successfully in every session.

Although all the cut motions by the opposition members were rejected and some were not taken up due to the imposition of the Guillotine, PPP Parliamentary Leader Syed Hassan Murtaza, PML-N MPAs Khawaja Imran Nazir, Malik Arshad and Tahir Khalil Sindhu spoke on their cut motions. It was PML-N's Tahir Khalil Sindhu who started the debate on the supplementary budget 2019-20 in the House. The opposition members talked about health, education and the law and order situation in the province.

The Chief minister said he led the fight against locusts attack and visited the affected areas in person.

Buzdar said his government was pursuing merit and transparency in all decisions, adding that all postings and transfers were also made on merit.

The speaker Punjab Assembly congratulated the House on the passage of provincial budget 2020-21, adding that the decision to hold PA session outside the assembly chambers was successful while it only cost 3.3 million rupees.

Earlier, the opposition parties issued an 11-page 'White Paper' on the Punjab budget 2020-21.

On completion of speech by the Leader of the House Usman Buzdar, Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi prorogued the session for an indefinite time period.