ISLAMABAD: Some of the government`s allies joined their voice with the opposition on Wednesday in criticising the federal budget in the Senate as most of the day`s speakers termed it disappointing for the poor.

Taking part in the general debate on the budget presented on June 3, the senators demanded that the upper house of parliament should also be given a role in its approval.

`If 60 women who come to the National Assembly on party lists have the right to pass the budget, why don`t we have this right?` asked Haji Muhammad Adeel, parliamentary leader of the Awami National Party (ANP).

He alleged that Punjab was unlawfully using the water of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Not only this, he said, the Punjab authorities had received up to Rs76 billion as `Abiyana` (water charges).

He said the previous government had allowed income tax relaxation to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which the present rulers had withdrawn because of their enmity with the provincial government of the Pakistan Tehreelei-Insaf (PTI).

Mr Adeel said the people of the province had suffered the most in the `war on terror`. `If we lose the war, we will either join them (Taliban) after growing beards or become IDPs (internally displaced persons),` he said.

He asked the finance minister to allocate money for a water supply scheme in Peshawar.

He said water in the city had been contaminated with poliovirus. `When you will come to the province we will offer you poisonous water,` he said.

Abdul Rauf of the Pakhtunkhwa MilliAwami Party said the budget contained no relief for the poor despite Finance Minister Ishaq Dar having admitted that half of the population was living below the poverty line.

`The rich will get the fruits of the budget whereas it has nothing for the poor,` said the senator whose party is a partner in the ruling coalition.

He warned against a mass exodus from Balochistan in future due to severe water shortage and called for construction of at least two dams in every district of the province to avoid such a situation.

Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the PMLFunctional suggested joint committees of the National Assembly and Senate and inclusion of senators in the all-powerful Public Accounts Committee.

He said the Senate should also have a role in preparing the budget.

Mr Shah deplored imposition of general sales tax on tractors and agricultural tools and asked the government to abolish it. He regretted that the price of a tractor had jumped to Rs1.4 million from Rs700,000, badly affecting the small farmers.

JUI-Fazl`s Talha Mehmood and PPP`s Usman Saifullah and Dr Karim Khawaja also tool< part in the debate.

The house also offered Fateha for Baloch leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri on the request of Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq.

Earlier, the National Assembly also offered Fateha for the nationalist leader who had died in Karachi on Tuesday. As proceedings of the house begun, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party`s chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai drew its attention to the demise of the leader and requested the chair for the prayer.