LAHORE, June 20: As the Punjab Assembly continued a general discussion on the budget on Friday, treasury members discussed budget details as well as development schemes for their constituencies in the absence of the opposition, which stuck to its boycott decision.

The protest camp of the opposition, however, remained empty because only a few members turned up.

Those taking part in the discussion praised the government for presenting “the most balanced and pro-people” budget for the year 2008-09. They gave suggestions for the development of health, education and agriculture sectors. They sought more time to highlight the problems being faced by their voters, saying that they got a very little time to get development schemes for their constituencies incorporated in the budget. Pakistan People’s Party’s Azma Bukhari accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) of “worst corruption and injustice” in Punjab. She said the PML-Q government spent Rs1.13 billion from Kafalat Programme, but the assembly had been provided no details about the spending. She said the previous government gave Rs2 million to the Nakai family in the name of financial assistance and Rs18 million to Syed Ali Murtaza for his daughter’s treatment. She said the house must be informed about the person, who was given such a hefty amount. She criticised the previous government for recruiting people on lucrative salaries.

Ms Bukhari demanded that all those who plundered the public money be brought to the book. She said more funds should be allocated to raise women’s status.

PML-Q’s Ehsanul Haq Naulathia said the previous government put extra burden on people by taking direct loans from the federal government and foreign banks. He said presently Punjab was burdened with Rs304 billion loans. He praised the government for imposing direct taxes on haves and sought maximum relief for have-nots. He asked the government to resolve the flat Abiyana rate issue, contending that currently growers were being forced to pay taxes on the entire land they own instead of the cultivated land.

Iftikhar Ali Khaitraan asked the government to pay special attention to the development of neglected areas, especially southern Punjab. He called for an investigation into the installation of water filtration plants without prior need assessment surveys. He said the underground water in many areas where these plants had been installed had arsenic, adding that these plants could not filter arsenic from water.

Speaking on a point of order, senior minister Raja Riaz informed the house that the PPP had decided to set up special blood camps all over the country, where each party worker would donate one pint of blood to pay tribute to the late Benazir Bhutto on her birthday.

Minister for Prisons Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor said on a point of order that barracks of all Punjab jails would be named after national leaders and heroes to acknowledge their struggle for democracy. He said the barrack where PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was imprisoned would be preserved and named after him. He said a library would be set up in this barrack. Similarly, he said, the barracks where Nawaz Sharif, Ghazi Ilam Din Shaheed and Sardar Bhaghat Singh were imprisoned would be named after them.

Opposition member Dr Samia Amjad attended the house proceedings for a few minutes. On a point of order, she said she just came to the house to see what was happening. She said she was ‘disappointed’ to see that legislators were discussing ‘other matters’ instead of the budget. “For God’s sake, do have some discussion on the budget,” she passed a comment.

Mian Muhammad Rafique, Joel Amer Sahotra and Amina Butter also took part in the discussion.

As most members sought more time to discus the budget, the acting speaker announced two sessions for Saturday (today) first session from 10am to 2pm and the second from 4pm onwards.