LAHORE: Opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz has said that the Post-budget situation in the province looks bleak, as the country’s economy has been trapped in a whirlpool. The economy was on ventilator earlier, but now it has died and should be buried, he said while talking to the media outside the Punjab Assembly on Friday. Hamza said now only Allah Almighty could revive the dead economy, adding that the agriculture sector had been suffering badly earlier, and the hike in Aabiana (water tax) by 100 per cent and withdrawal of subsidy on electricity would destroy it completely. He said even the mediocre professionals like barbers, washer-men and taxi drivers had been slapped 16 per cent tax, which amounted to victimising the poor masses. He said the government had not announced the budget but a dose of poison for the people. Hamza said that as a voice of masses, he was issuing a warning to Imran Niazi that no power could save him from the wrath of people now.Hamza said Punjab chief minister was a gentleman and he was burdened with a huge task, though he was only learning the politics of a large province. He said despite the fact that the CM hailed from south Punjab, the annual budget for the region had been reduced to Rs122 billion from the PML-N government’s Rs238 billion.He said the prime minister claimed about increasing the health budget, but actually it was reduced from Rs112 billion in the PML-N government to mere Rs53 million.He said the PTI government believed only in arresting people, and public welfare was not on its priority list. He condemned the arrest of Faryal Talpur and said we have norms of respecting and honouring women even from the opponents. He said the PTI government had scared away investors with its policies of victimisation and the foreign investment had reduced by 52 per cent.He criticised prime minister’s proposed commission on foreign loans, saying the PTI government obtained Rs5,200 billion foreign loans in just nine months and Rs2,000 billion went down the drain because of devaluation. He said the incumbent government spent Rs730 billion more than the PML-N government on administrative affairs, but Imran Khan was neither talking about it nor making a commission on it.Hamza said the US had asked the IMF not to give further loans unless Islamabad fulfilled the conditions to come out of grey list. He said the PM praised Umar Ayub for reducing load-shedding, but its credit actually went to Nawaz Sharif, who installed coal-fired and LNG power plants.
06-15-2019, 01:14 PM
Post-budget situation bleak: Hamza
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