KARACHI: Three major opposition parties the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-P (MQM-P) and Grand DemocraticAlliance (GDA) boycotted the proceedings of the Sindh Assembly on Friday, which was the first day of prebudget debate, when the chair denied their demand for a comprehensive presentation from the provincial government on the upcoming budget.

The proceedings also witnessed the lethargic attitude and disinterest of the lawmakers from both sides of the aisle as only three members from treasury and five of opposition were present in the house when Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani began the session at 10:55am with a delay of 55 minutes.

Sensing a severe lack of quorum at the outset, PTI lawmaker Firdous ShamimNaqvi rose to ask the chair to allow the members present in the house to deliver their pre-budget speeches.

`You can see their seriousness,` a visibly irked speaker told the PTI lawmaker before he adjourned the house for half an hour so that the members could turn up to participate in the pre-budget discussion.

The attendance of the lawmakers from the two sides showed a little improvement when the speaker started proceedings after a break of 55 minutes instead of 30 minutes with 17 treasury and seven opposition members.

The speaker asked the parliamentary leadersoftheoppositionpartiestoensure the presence of their MPAs in the housebefore asking PTPs Naqvi to start the pre-budget discussion with his speech.

The PTI member, however, could not deliver his speech as the situation turned unpleasant after MQM-P`s Muhammad Hussain`s demand for the provincial government presentation ahead of the prebudget session.

The MQM-P lawmaker was of the opinion that the members would be in a better position to give their suggestion for the forthcoming budget if the provincial government gave a comprehensive presentation on its fiscal plans.

Referring to a meeting of treasury and opposition members with thespeaker,Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla said they had decided and agreed upon certain things regarding the pre-budgetsession in the meeting. If such a demand had been made by the opposition in the meeting, the provincial government would have fulfilled it, he added.

While the MQM-P member was still insisting for a presentation on budget,GDA`s Shaheryar Mahar rose to complain that he was not duly intimated about the pre-budget session.

The situation turned ugly with an exchange of harsh words between Mr Mahar and Minister Chawala.

The minister said the GDA member remained absent in the house while his other party fellows had been duly informed about the session.Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh also joined Mr Mahar and said he was not informed either. In the meantime, all opposition members rose and started shouting.

The opposition leader requested the chair to adjourn the house to Monday to begin the prebudget session.

Speaker Durrani, however, made it clear that hehad already called PTPs Naqvi to deliver his speech and the proceedings would continue.

The parliamentary minister alleged that the opposition did not have any interest in forwarding their suggestions in the pre-budget discussion.

`There seems to be a lack of coordination among the opposition parties,` he said,addingthatthetreasury members were ready to participate in the prebudget debate.

His remarks did not please the opposition members who started thumping desks and then staged a walkout.

Only one Qasim Soomro of the PPP delivered his spee ch that mainly en compassed the destruction of floods and the relief and rehabilitation activities of the provincial government.

Criticising the PTI members, he said they did not have any knowledge of public issues in their respective constituencies as they were not elected, but `selected`.

The PPP MPA said that small dams were established in Tharparkar, which generated economic activity in the area.

He said the infrastructure had been also damaged in the rains and its restoration should be included in the upcoming budget.

Later, the sitting was adjourned to Monday.