KARACHI, June 20: Describing the procedure adopted in the preparation of the budget as ‘bureaucratic’, a treasury member belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Bilqees Mukhtar, proposed that members of the assembly be consulted and made part of the budget preparation exercise.

She forwarded the proposal on Friday when the Sindh Assembly resumed a general discussion on the budget statement for the financial year 2008-09.

During her 15-minute speech, Ms Mukhtar also stressed the need for the establishment of monitoring teams comprising treasury and opposition members to ensure proper utilisation of the allocated funds and an effective implementation of uplift schemes.

She was of the view that the budget preparation exercise should not be left only with the bureaucracy. She argued that the legislators should also be involved in the process. She added that while this practice had been in place for the past 60 years or so, it had failed to yield positive results.

The MPA said that it would be useless to propose the urgently required schemes during a general discussion on the budget as they were put off till the next budget and were never taken up.

She said that no matter whichever party was in power, the government never allowed adoption of any cut motion moved by the opposition benches.

Ms Mukhtar claimed that the new budget preparation exercise had been initiated in October but kept a secret. She was of the view that MPAs should be informed about the revenue and development aspects of the budget as was the practice elsewhere.

She said that the roles of the MPAs should not be restricted only to the use of “Ayes and Nays”. She said that the MPAs should be involved in the budget preparation right from the beginning and should be consulted on various issues. A budget prepared in such a manner could only be termed “a people’s budget”, she said.

Her suggestion was well-received by both sides of the house.

Before the chair called it a day at 1pm, a total of 10 members—eight from the treasury and two from the opposition benches— had taken part in the two-hour discussion.

Earlier, when the house was called to order at 10.30am instead of its scheduled time at 9am, only a few ministers and over a dozen legislators of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were in attendance. However, by 11am they turned up in full strength.

It is worth mentioning that almost all the members belonging to the MQM and the ANP and the opposition members were present from the very beginning.

Soon after the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran and Naat, the deputy speaker, Shehla Raza, who was in the chair, started a 30-minute question hour. During the question hour pertaining to the excise and taxation department only four questions came up in the house.

Out of the four, three questions were fielded by Arif Mustafa Jatoi, who like the first day of the ongoing discussion appeared to strive hard to make his presence felt in the house as a member of the opposition.

With the approval of leave applications of Ruqqiya Soomro and Masroor Jatoi by the house, the chair gave the floor to Humera Alwani of the PPP to initiate a discussion on budget.

The members of the house greeted Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who entered the house at 12.10pm, by thumping their desks.

Almost all the treasury members congratulated the chief minister over the presentation of what they called a “poor-friendly” budget.

Expressing concern over the law and order situation, which they termed a legacy of the previous government, they said that the situation had considerably improved from what it used to be in the past.

Feeling the absence of the home minister, Ms Alwani said that had he been present in the house, he would have taken notes. Pointing out the increasing incidents of kidnapping and the ongoing gang warfare in Lyari, she said that to attract investors, it was imperative to first improve the overall law and order situation in the province.

Calling for the implementation of the 1991 water accord, she said that due to the non-availability of 2.5 million cubic feet water at Kotri downstream, million of acres of precious agricultural land in Thatta and Badin was being eroded by the sea.

Ahmad Ali Shah of the PPP said that it was due to the corruption in the irrigation department and water theft by influential persons, the agriculture sector was unable to prosper and could not achieve its targets.

Accusing the PPP of double standards, Abdul Razzaq Rahimoon of the PML-Q said that when the previous government used to present budget without the NFC award, the PPP used to term the budget illegal and unconstitutional. He asked as to how they could term the current budget legal without the NFC award now.

He also complained of political victimisation of his brothers.

Muzaffar Ali Shujra of the PPP proposed the construction of another bridge between Ghotki and Kandhkot to facilitate the people of Kashmore district and Balochistan.

He deplored that industrial plots had been allotted at around 70 per cent discounted rates while there were no discounts offered for lands, which could be used for educational purposes.

He urged the city government to take action against retail milk-sellers who were charging Rs42 to Rs44 per litre after adulteration while getting pure milk from cattle colony at the rate of Rs32 a litre.

Mir Hasan Khoso of the PPP said that in his constituency there were 70 per cent ghost schools and teachers while the available teachers were not properly educated that lead to the deterioration of the standard of education and promotion of copying culture.

Recalling the sacrifice of Benazir Bhutto for democracy in the country, Zareen Majid of the MQM said that the benefit of democracy could only trickle down to the masses, if poverty was reduced and essential commodities were available in abundance, economy was strengthened. She stressed the need for taking strict action against profiteers and hoarders.

Terming the Rs14 million allocations for women development insufficient, Ms Majid called for its upward revision.

She also raised the issue of private educational institutions fleecing the masses. She urged that all such institutions should be monitored so as to address the issue effectively.

Ali Ghulam Nizamani of the PML-F said that agriculture was the backbone of the country. Praising the decision of the Punjab government of extending subsidy of Rs100,000 to farmer for the procurement of a tractor, he urged the Sindh government to follow suit.

Mr Nizamani also complained of poor educational standards in the interior parts of the province with a specific reference to incompetent teachers in those parts. He stressed the need for taking steps in this regard so as to raise the educational standards in the province. He also called for taking immediate measures to check the spread of hepatitis B and C due to the consumption of contaminated water in Sanghar, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas.

Nadeem Bhutto of the PPP criticised the admission policies and recruitment procedures in the educational institutions and various multinationals and stressed the need for the provision of equal opportunities without any discrimination.

Amanullah Mehsood of the ANP suggested that the items of daily use like flour, rice, sugar and pulses should be taken under government’s control and be supplied from stores on fixed price only then soaring prices could be controlled.

He also urged the government to offer incentive to the investors to boost the industrial sector, which in turn would help overcome the issue of unemployment.

Mr Mehsood deplored that the condition of the hospitals in the public sector was very poor. He said that the MPAs committees should supervise their overall working so as to bring about improvements.