PESHAWAR: The opposition lawmakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Saturday rejected the Rs603 billion provincial budget for 2017-18 as based on assumptions. They claimed that the budget documents showed Rs59 billion deficit.

It was the fifth budget of the PTI-led provincial government that was tabled by Finance Minister Muzaffar Said on Wednesday last.

As the house started budget debate, the opposition lawmakers seemed less prepared to detect flaws in the budget as they spoke little on it rather they opted to deliver speeches on the issues already raised in the house.

Deputy Speaker Mehar Taj Roghani who chaired the sitting asked the members time and again to only discuss the budget because it was the budget session.

The house burst into laughter several times over remarks of the chair she gave on speeches of the members.

Initiating the debate, Leader of the Opposition Maulana Lutfur Rehman termed it a deficit budget.

`The government claims that the budget is balanced, but the budget documents reveal the deficit of Rs59 billion,` he said, but failed to prove his point in the documents. He said that the previous budget was also a deficit one.

The opposition leader said that the government would not be able to generate funds for the development schemes as witnessed in the outgoing financial year. He claimed that the government would again divert the funds allocated for the development schemes in the areas of opposition members to those of ruling in the name of re-appropriation.

`Budgets are not made on assumptions,` he said. If the revenue targets from a sector couldn`t be achieved in the outgoing financial year how these could be achieved in the next year with billions of increase in the projected target, he said.

Afterwards, the opposition leader started discussing political issues, including PTPs earlier campaign against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, construction of 350 dams in KP, its criticism on the metro bus system in Punjab, etc.

He said that PTI chief Imran Khan had claimed that his party`s government would establish many dams and it would be able to provide electricity to the entire country, butnothinghad been donein thisregard sofar.

He alleged that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced two universities in KP, but his government was not cooperating in establishment of these universities. He said that the projects of roads, schools and health units initiated four years ago couldn`t be completed due to unavailability of funds.

He said that the provincial government had introduced a new local bodies system, but no training was given to its elected people due to which reports of failure were surfacing in districts. He alleged that all the police officials who were removed by the police department for corruption had been restored by courts, which meant they were innocent.

Participating in the debate, PML-N parliamentary leader Aurangzaib Nalotha said that taxes had been imposed on people who were already engulfed by poverty. He turned down the government`s claim of presenting a tax-free budget.

He said that tax on the transfer of land had been increased by 50 per cent which was injustice with people. He said that the budget was not for the entire province rather it was restricted to only five districts.

Fakhar Azam of PPP raised objection to the Rs52 billion loan planned to be taken from the Asian Development Bank for the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit. Sardar Hussain Chitrali of PPP, Mohammad Ali of JI and Sattar Khan of PML-N also participated in the debate. The chair adjourned the session till Sunday (today).