QUETTA: The annual budget of the Quetta Metropolitan Cor­poration (QMC) for the financial year 2016-17 could not be presented in the house on Wednesday after the treasury and opposition benches traded insults, forcing the deputy mayor to adjourn the session to Friday.

Mayor Dr Kaleemullah later said he would present the budget in the Divisional Coordination Committee instead of tabling it in the QMC session to avoid any untoward incident.

Opposition leader Abdul Rahim Kakar and his supporters said they would not allow passage of the budget before the treasury benches accounted for all expenditures. They accused their opponents of embezzling funds.

The opposition members started chanting slogans against the mayor as soon as the session began, with some even calling for his resignation.

The councillors supporting Dr Kaleemullah paid back in the same coin by heckling the opposition leader. With things threatening to go out of control, Deputy Mayor Muhammad Younis Baloch, who was presiding over the session, put the matter to vote.

The two sides tied at 41 votes apiece, prompting the chair to adjourn the session to Friday.

The opposition members who represent the PML-N, Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) protested the decision.

Opposition leader Kakar, who is a former mayor, said after the session the opposition would not brook any wrongdoing. “Although we pointed out massive corruption in the QMC, nobody paid heed to our protestations. The mayor should resign as he has lost majority in the house,” Mr Kakar said.

Deputy Mayor Younis Baloch deplored the attitude of the opposition, blaming the adjournment on their attitude. Dr Kaleemullah, the mayor, said at a press conference late on Wednesday evening that there would be no QMC session on Friday and he would instead put the budget before the divisional coordination committee.

“I will not present the budget in the QMC session on Friday,” he said, adding that he was ready to step down if corruption charges were proved against him. The mayor said a 15-member supreme council had now been entrusted with distribution of funds among union councils.

Dr Kaleemullah accused the political parties having representation in the provincial assembly of not honouring the agreement for running the QMC.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2016