QUETTA: The Baloch­istan government has postponed its budget session for the financial year 2018-19 until May 14, a decision announced on Friday, the day when the government was to unveil the budget.

It was for the first time in the parliamentary history of Balochistan that the government could not present its budget on the scheduled date.

The provincial authorities did not officially cite any reason for the delay; however, it was learnt that the cabinet which was discussing the budget for final approval did not agree on the proposed Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

Sources said that Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo had expressed his anger over not taking him into confidence while finalising the PSDP by the Planning and Development department.

They said that the department had not included new development projects and schemes — proposed by the provincial government and members of the assembly under MPA funds — in the PSDP documents.

“The government’s proposals and new development schemes were included in a separate list which was attached with the PSDP documents book,” an insider who was present in the meeting told Dawn.

Despite having sent an official from CM House for development budget figures, the official concerned sent the documents for printing without informing the chief minister, said the source.

The chief minister and cabinet members who were present in the meeting then decided to postpone the budget session and asked the officials of the Planning and Development department to prepare the PSDP documents in three days and scheduled the presentation for May 14.

Opposition condemns delay

Meanwhile, opposition leaders claimed that there were differences in the cabinet over allocation of resources for their respective constituencies which led to the postponement of the budget.

Addressing a news conference on Friday, opposition leader Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal regretted that the government informed the opposition about its decision to postpone the budget just 10 minutes after the scheduled time of the session. This last-minute decision underscored the inability of the authorities to have better coordination among its departments and cabinet members, he said.

“The opposition strongly condemns such non-professional behaviour. They should have fully prepared the budget before announcing a date,” said Mr Ziaratwal.

Terming the delay a failure of the government, former chief minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said it was the first time in Balochistan’s history a budget session had been postponed at the last minute. He claimed that all development projects under his constituencies were not included by the provincial authorities.

Citing the reasons why the budget was postponed, Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said that the Planning and Development department was not prepared for the budget.

“The P&D was not prepared and there was an issue with the printing press,” he said, not specifying which of the two reasons caused the delay. “We are working on a budget which will have everyone’s consensus,” he pledged.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2018