NGOs see budget as irrelevant to common man

Some non-government organisations (NGOs) have termed the budget for 2011-12 as irrelevant to the common man, lacking mechanism for transparency and accountability, besides ignoring higher education and environmental challenges. While talking to Business Recorder, various NGO officials working on health, education, environment and consumer rights protection issues, termed the budget for 2011-12 only juggling of words.
Executive Co-ordinator the Network for Consumer Protection Nadeem Iqbal said that the budget is not relevant to the general public, as all utilities including gas, telephones and electricity bills are directly determined and controlled by authorities like PTA, Nepra Ogra etc, while education and health ministries have been devolved to the provinces and federal government has nothing to do with them.
However, contrary to other countries, higher education is not on the priority list of the government, as Higher Education Commission (HEC) budget has further been slashed, Iqbal said. Similarly, the government has increased indirect taxes which would directly affect the poor. No mechanism has been developed to streamline the use of collected taxes, he added.
Waseem Hashmi, Manager Co-ordination Consumer Rights Commission (CCRC) Pakistan, said that no mechanism has been laid in the budget to protect consumer rights. Similarly, no mechanism has been evolved to ensure transparency of the use and collection of taxes collected.
He said that 11 consumer rights protection courts are operating in 36 district of Punjab and only 3 in KP, while there are no consumer rights protection courts in Sindh, Balochistan and federal capital. "So, how can the government ensure transparency without any legislation?" he asked. He said that in other countries of the world, more emphasis is given on higher education. However, in Pakistan the HEC budget has decreased compared to last year.
Some NGOs said that the new budget is 'murky' with clear indication that a mini-budget is not far away which would only overburden poor and helpless masses of the country. No major steps were unveiled in the budget paper to ameliorate the plight of the downtrodden masses already reeling under rampant inflation.
They said that today Pakistan is confronted with environmental challenges including climate change and the government has made some international commitments to deal with these challenges. However, the government further cut the budget for this important sector, which would result in facing greater environmental challenges in future.