Punjab budget only jugglery of numbers: Hamza

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) Vice President and Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz has declared the Punjab budget for financial year 2021-22 a jugglery of numbers.

Talking to the media after the budget session, he said only 10 per cent increase was announced in the salaries of government employees whereas the minimum wage was kept at Rs20,000.

He said the prices of flour, sugar and medicines has doubled after the N-League era while the country was facing the worst inflation. The government should first make a budget of a poor man’s house in Rs20,000 and then announce a tax-free budget.

He said that on the one hand the government was claiming tax-free budget and on the other hand they were increasing the price of petrol, which were contradictory claims. He said the current budget would increase prices of food and necessities of life, and the price of electricity had been increased by Rs28, he claimed.

“We had added 12,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, and this government not even one megawatt. That is why people are facing load-shedding in the hot weather,” Hamza said, adding that even the budget of higher education had been reduced by three billion rupees.

He said farmers would get nothing when the input cost for growing wheat and other crops would be increased manifold, and electricity would become expensive. He said the opposition protested in the House and did not violate any rules, adding that it was high time to get rid of those who had made wrong promises with the public while standing on containers.