Peshawar:
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly on Wednesday approved a complementary budget of RS192.74 billion for the current fiscal year (2024-25), eliminating 62 financing demands that cover additional departmental expenses.
The measure caused a violent reaction of the opposition parties, which organized a burning protest and a strike, denouncing the movement as evidence of the defective planning of the provincial government and the defective economy.
The speaker Babar Salem Swati presided over the session, which quickly became contentious after invoking special powers to destroy opposition reduction movements and accelerate the budget.
The members of the opposition, qualifying the exercise, a matter of “disastrous policy failure”, claimed that this marked the 14th complementary budget under the 13 -year rule of PTI. They lamburated the frequent resource to such budgets, arguing that when the balloon of expenses year after year is not controlled and question the proclamation of the government of a surplus.
Dr. Ibadullah, leader of the opposition, entered the debate with figures. “The surplus does not conform to the bill,” he said, pointing out the amazing provincial debt that increases from 150 billion to RS800 billion under the successive administrations of PTI.
He questioned the logic of approving the mosaic budgets when almost a third of the development funds had not been spent and supposedly RS200 billion in financial irregularities according to the general auditor findings.
