MUZAFFARABAD: A senior ruling PTI lawmaker on Monday kicked off debate in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on the 2022-23 budget as the 20-member combined opposition continued its boycott of proceedings.

Traditionally, debate on the budget is initiated by leader of the opposition, but it was opened by local government and rural development (LG&RD) minister Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, who said the government was persuading the opposition and was hopeful that they would soon end their boycott and take part in the proceedings.

Extending felicitations to Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, finance minister Abdul Majid Khan and planning and development minister Chaudhry Mohammad Rasheed for “presenting the best budget amidst the most challenging environment,” Mr Ahmed said the PTI government wanted its development budget swelled to Rs45 billion but the federal government not only restricted it to Rs28.5bn but also withheld the last tranche of the current year’s development budget.

He regretted that cuts were imposed on Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan because both areas were governed by the PTI.

Minister hopes opposition will participate in proceedings

Mr Ahmed asserted that notwithstanding financial woes, they had sanctioned 20 kilometre long roads at the discretion of each opposition lawmaker and would also follow the Supreme Court’s decision regarding provision of funds to them.

He expressed his gratitude to PTI chairman Imran Khan for approving the Mansehra-Muzaffarabad motorway project, including construction of a tunnel at Lohar Galli, in his rule and said it would go a long way in promoting tourism in AJK.

Afterwards, higher education minister Zafar Iqbal, parliamentary secretary for social welfare Taqdees Gillani, PM’s special assistant for IT Mohammad Iqbal, revenue minister Chaudhry Akhlaque and electricity minister Chaudhry Arshad also greeted the finance minister for presenting a “balanced and people friendly budget.” They vowed to bring substantial reforms in their respective portfolios for the benefit of the masses.

Mr Arshad, whose constituency in Mirpur district was affected by an earthquake in September 2019, called for rehabilitation and compensation of the survivors which, he alleged, had not been done to this day.

Health minister Nisar Ansar Abdali informed the house that about 1,300 employees of the federal government funded MNCH programme would be shifted to AJK’s normal budget at an estimated yearly expenditure of Rs270 million.

He said not only the salaries of doctors would be brought on a par with their counterparts in Pakistan, but all employees of AJK’s health department would be paid health allowance, hard area allowance and other allowances as admissible in Pakistan.

He said the PTI government was about to formulate a health policy and establish a health commission to bring much-needed improvement in service delivery.

Resolutions

The house also approved a resolution by parliamentary secretary Mazhar Saeed calling for abolition of the additional tax for electricity consumers in AJK in the name of ‘fuel price adjustment’ apart from provision of electricity at fixed rates to marginalised communities.

Another resolution by Ms Gillani was also approved which called for establishment of a tourism corridor in Pir Chinasi and Pir Hassi Mar, located at an altitude of more than 10,000 feet towards the east of Muzaffarabad.

The house would meet again on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2022