Punjab Finance Minister justifies need for Supplementary Budget 2010-11

Punjab Finance Minister Kamran Michael has justified the need for the Supplementary Budget 2010-11 to meet the expenses of emergent needs and public welfare oriented projects. He was wrapping up the general discussion on Supplementary Budget 2010-11 in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.
However, the opposition benches lamented the government for burdening Punjab with high supplementary budget and said that it is a reflection of gross financial mismanagement. In his concluding remarks, the Finance Minister said Article 124 of the Constitution provides a provision for supplementary budget and the Punjab government has acted in accordance with the law of the land.
He told the House that in the FY 2010-11, the government had set Rs 386.786 billion for current budget. "However, it was not possible for the government to allocate funds for unforeseen events and hence money was released as needs arose during the current fiscal year," he added.
He disclosed that during FY2010-11 the government provided supplementary grants for relief and rehabilitation of flood affectees, which was carried out in several phases. He said during the same fiscal year the government raised salaries, pensions and medical allowances of government servants and pensioners by 50 percent, 15-20 percent and 15 percent, respectively, and also medical allowances of government employees in grade 1 to 16 by 100 percent. "These expenses compelled the government to provide supplementary grants to cover extra financial burden of Rs 25.613 billion, which was not allocated in the Punjab Budget 2010-11. These supplementary grants were adjusted against government savings," he added.
He also told the House that in the shape of supplementary grants, the government released Rs 61.605 billion to the Punjab Food Department, which was used for wheat procurement and repaying bank loans; the money was drawn from government's account 2. "It was hard to estimate the cost of wheat procurement and the amount of bank loans (to be taken for wheat procurement) at the beginning of the fiscal year and hence the money was released in the shape of supplementary grants in later stage," he added. Earlier, the opposition benches criticised the government for exceeding the estimates made in the Punjab Budget 2010-11. They said a supplementary budget of over Rs 87 billion was a sign of bad governance and gross financial mismanagement.
Meanwhile, the House on Monday witnessed pandemonium, as the PPP and PML-N legislators locked horn over the poll rigging allegations during Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) legislative assembly elections. Both the PPP and PML-N raised allegation of poll rigging against each other, which led to a brief walkout by the PPP members. Several members from both side of the House levelled serious allegations against the present and past leaderships for trampling the democratic values and ruining the constitutional institutions of the country.
PPP Parliamentary leader Major (Retd) Zulfiqar Gondal, on a point of order, accused the PML-N of poll rigging as well as bullying the PPP leaders (including opposition leader Raja Riaz) and workers at the polling stations. He said the PPP strongly condemns the PML-N's action. "The PML-N activists under the supervision and patronage of local administration were busy in casting fake votes," he added.
He also drew the House's attention towards the Punjab Chief Minister's refusal to take the telephone call of the Punjab Governor, who wanted to raise the issue of gross rigging committed by the PML-N leaders and government functionaries. "The Governor is the highest constitutional office in the province and the Punjab chief executive violated the Constitution by refusing to take his call," he added.
In reply, provincial minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor told the House that the polling remained peaceful in Punjab while the bulk of the rigging was committed by the PPP administration in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He also alleged that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani personally supervised the rigging and changed the results. Later, the Speaker adjourned the House till Tuesday morning.