ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers from both sides of divide in Senate on Tuesday expressed concern on power crisis and prevailing corruption in various institutions and urged the government to take immediate steps to resolve these issues.

“No doubt the present government inherited power crisis, unemployment and inflation. But solid steps should have been taken by the government to address these problems,” said ANP lawmaker Farrah Aqil while resuming debate on the budget.

She said that Pakistan is blessed with rich resources which need to be exploited for the country's progress and prosperity. She said the menace of corruption should be controlled at every cost.

She alleged that major chunk of annual development fund was eaten up by the commission mafia, not only affecting development projects but also hampering to improve life standard of the public.

Aqil said that Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) were launched for poverty alleviation, but now people were pointing fingers at its transparency.

She suggested that sewing machines should be provided to the deserving women rather than handing over Rs.1000 stipend per month to them under the BISP.

Haji Ghulam Ali of JUI-F said that said that no solid steps were taken to give relief to the poor masses and to cope with the power crisis. He said unemployment in the country was increasing due to the power outages. He stressed the government to allocate more funds for Diamer Basha and Munda dams and other such projects.

Senator Robina Irfan said it would have been better if recommendations were sought before preparation of the budget.

Earlier, Leader of the House Jahangir Badar laid the reports of Federal Accounts for the Financial Year 2010-2011 and Auditor General for the Audit year 2011-2012.