LAHORE: Opposition chose Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha GhausPasha`sbudgetspeechinthe presence of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the Punjab Assembly on Friday a perfect occasion to register their protest for not getting development funds for the last two years.

Wearing black armbands, opposition parties Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, PML-Q and PPP, led by Opposition Leader Mahmoodur Rasheed, gathered in front of speaker`s chair and continued raising anti-government slogans till the conclusion of the finance minister`s speech.

Chief Minister Shahbaz who rarely comes to assembly sessions seemed not bothered by opposition`s sloganeering. Zaeem Qadri sat by the chief minister.

When the finance minister concluded her speech, PML-N MPAs stood up and started raising slogans `sher, sher` (lion, the election symbol of the PML-N).

Oppositionmembersretorted them with `go-Nawaz-go`.

`Our protest was not only against the denial of development funds to opposition legislators but also against the anti-people`s budget,` an opposition member told Dawn. She said denial of funds to the opposition MPAs meant that denial of development works to the hundreds of thousands of people living in their constituencies. `We hope that Shahbaz Sharif who hardly turns up in the house today would have taken notice of this matter,` she said.

Opposition Leader Mahmoodur Rasheed told reporters outside the assembly the Punjab budget 201516 was an utter disappointment for the people of the province. `The common man was expecting that he would get some relief in the budget but the government disappointed him,` he said, adding that he did know when the PML-N government would come out of this metro bus obsession. `Nothing substantial has been allocated for the sectors of health, education and law and order while huge funds has been diverted for metro bus projects,` he said.

Mr Rasheed said bureaucracy had prepared this budget as the finance minister had assumed the charge of her ministry a week before the budget. `The PML-N government has been doing this practice (of appointing a finance minister a week before the budget) for the last seven successive years,` he said.

The opposition leader said the Punjab government had failed to spend 53 per cent of the development budget of 2014-15 thus rushing to make development schemes only on paper to secure funds.

`We will prove this and the government`s anti-people budget in the house with facts and figures,` he said.