KARACHI - The Sindh Assembly on Monday approved the Rs542.5 billion budget for the current fiscal year without any cut motion.
The house also passed 56 demands of expenditures for the next fiscal as well as supplementary budget of Rs150 billion. Ninety-nine members participated in the budget discussion. Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah announced up to Rs8, 000 per month increase in minimum wages.
Shah said the Sindh province was facing acute shortage of water, for which he had written to President Asif Ali Zardari, urging him to ensure its due share. He said he also took up the matter with Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. He said the Balochistan chief minister raised the issue but he had urged his counterpart to come to Sindh and review the situation in the coastal belt. The Chief Minister said Sindh will get its water right at any cost.
Shah said that those people who are criticizing the government should come and see the development budget and four year progress of the government.
He criticized Nawaz Sharif and his party leaders for, what he called, the PML-N was playing “Tanga politics”. Sindh Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said they would spend around 140 billion on the development schemes.
Rejecting the allegations of utilising meagre amount of development budget, he said they had released Rs23 billion in the first financial quarter, but due to lack of interest on the part of department, the budget was not utilised on time.
He said the PC-1 of many development schemes was not passed due to which they did not release the budget on time. MQM’s Sardar Ahmed said cut motions were requirement for the budget, but no member presented any of them.
He said the treasury could also present cut motions to reduce unnecessary financial burden. He cited the example of the government of Ayoub Khuhro who being a chief minister had presented the cut motion of Rs.0.5 million to get rid of the deficit budget and turned it into in the surplus. Sardar Ahmed suggested government make the Sindh Bank a micro finance bank instead of commercial bank.
He asked the government  to provide subsidy on flour in towns and cities so that people can get benefit from it.  About law and order, he said Rs39 billion was allocated for maintaining peace across the province. He suggested establishing intelligence bureau in all districts to control ensure law and order across the province.
The MQM leader proposed monitoring committee at provincial and district levels to review three months progress of utilisation of the budget.