Peshawar – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session on Monday was adjourned without approving the supplementary budget for the 2022-23 financial year.
The session also included prayers for the Iranian president and foreign minister, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday evening. The session was adjourned until Tuesday afternoon due to a lack of quorum, as pointed out by opposition MPA Adnan Wazir. All opposition members withdrew their cut motions against grant demands at the request of KP Finance Minister Aftab Alam Afridi and Speaker Babar Salim Swati.
The finance minister had presented a supplementary budget of Rs306.520 billion for the last fiscal year, with most funds spent or re-appropriated by the PTI government or the first caretaker government before June 2023.
Opposition leader in the provincial assembly, Dr Ibadullah, stated that a significant portion of the supplementary budget had been utilised by the previous PTI government, despite treasury members blaming the interim setup. He argued that if treasury members objected to the budget figures, they should not have approved them.
Finance Minister Aftab Alam countered that most funds were spent by what he termed an unconstitutional caretaker government, and the treasury now had to pass the budget out of necessity. He assured the House that both treasury and opposition members would be consulted for the upcoming annual budget.
PTI MPA Zar Alam Khan asked the provincial government to announce a relief package and compensation for those affected by floods and rains in his constituency of the Nowshera district and requested the government to purchase the wheat directly from affected farmers at government rates.
Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentary Leader Ahmad Karim Kundi emphasised that the Constitution requires the federal government to share income and expenditure details with the province and that the provincial government must present these reports in the assembly. He also called for the annual report of the Provincial Finance Commission to be presented.
