Finance bill could not be presented; CM okays 30pc increase in salaries of govt officials, pensions
Amraiz Khan Lahore
The Punjab Assembly’s budget session for the fiscal year 2022-23 was postponed on Monday till 1pm today.
The budget could not be presented in the assembly on Monday after hours of delay as the Opposition and the treasury benches continued protesting against each other.
The budget session was scheduled to begin at 2pm but started after several hours of delay. Once it started, the Opposition benches protested the presence of Punjab government spokesperson Attaullah Tarar in the assembly, as he is not a member.
“We will not let the budget be presented till [Chief Minister] Hamza Shahbaz is present in the house, while the inspector-general and chief secretary are sitting in the gallery,” the Opposition said.
Following the Opposition’s protest, Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi demanded the house’s guards escort Tarar out of the assembly and adjourned the session for 10 minutes.
Elahi — who lost the contest for the chief minister’s slot last month against Hamza Shahbaz — said that if Tarar was not out of the building within 10 minutes, he would adjourn the session till tomorrow.
After the break, the session resumed with Elahi in the chair, while Tarar exited the assembly in “protest”. Amid all the drama, the finance bill could not be presented.
Meanwhile, the Punjab cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, on Monday approved a 30pc increase in the salaries of government employees.
During the cabinet meeting, it was decided to follow the example of the federal government and merge all ad-hoc relief.
Similarly, the government will also provide a 15pc disparity allowance along with 15pc additional salary, which will be available to employees of certain government departments. The provincial cabinet also approved a 15pc hike in pensions against the proposed increase of 5pc.
In addition to approving the Annual Development Programme 2022-23, the meeting also approved the MoU for providing free medicines to cancer patients.
Addressing the meeting, Hamza Shahbaz said relief measures have been proposed in the budget to facilitate the people of the province.
“I always believe in consultation. The recent budget has been prepared in consultation with the political and administrative team,” he said while acknowledging the services of the officials who were part of the budget-making.
