LAHORE: Punjab Assembly on Tuesday approved budget grants of Rs636 billion for five departments and all the cut motions suggested by Opposition were rejected with majority vote.
The PA approved grants for the departments including Police, Agriculture, Health Services, Education and Public Health. The Opposition was criticised for deviating from agenda whereas the PTI MPAs grilled the government for allegedly targeting farmers and making the life of common man miserable.
"We have no objection to those imposed over us, but we do object to our Chief Minister and Prime Minister" said EjazShafi, now a PTI legislator elected from Rahim Yar Khan for fourth term since 2002. "Our Chief Minister called farmers a mafia" remarked EjazShafi while grilling the government for its alleged anti-farmers policy. EjazShafi on the occasion said one of the Chief Minister’s advisers listed nine types of rice. "Are these the policymakers who will decide the future of our farmers", asked EjazShafi.
"The farmers have been crushed completely" EjazShafi stated. Their adviser claims there are only 1,500 to 2,000 farmers in Punjab, said the Opposition MPA Ejaz went on to say that his leader is right in saying that enmity with farmers is equal to enmity with Pakistan. "Tell me, in the past year, is there any crop for which farmers received full payment?" remarked Ejaz. "When the farmer gets zero relief, then what’s the point of allocating billions of rupees" asked EjazShafi. Opposition member from Lahore Ahmar Bhatti while speaking on the occasion said that in the sector health globally, we are at number 167 out of 136. "Every year, 178,000 new cases of drug addiction are reported" said Ahmar Bhatti. "We are facing a shortage of 50pc in the number of doctors", said Ahmar.
Defending the government, Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said the reconstruction of the old hospital in Gujranwala also took place during our tenure. Khawaja Salman Rafique the medical college in Gujranwala was also established during the PML-N government. He said the Punjab government has done the most extensive work on polio eradication. Khawaja Salman Rafique said also that at Nawaz Sharif Cancer Hospital, 100 beds are exclusively allocated for patients in stage three and four of cancer. "A cardiology hospital is being built in Sargodha at a cost of 12 billion rupees," said the Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique. Salman Rafique stated that due to the high patient load at PIC in Lahore, we are planning to build another PIC.
"We are establishing a cardiology hospital in Sahiwal, "said Khawaja Salman Rafique, who has also served as Punjab Health Minister in the cabinet of Shehbaz Sharif in Punjab.
"Burn units are being set up in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan", Khawaja Salman Rafique said. Minister MianMujtabaShujaurRehman also defended the stance of government and stated PTI chose a figure like Usman Buzdar as CM Punjab which was a mockery with the province. Later, the budget grants were approved and session was adjourned till next day. During the ongoing PA session, on Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf MPA and former Provincial Minister EjazShafi was cleared from Watch theft charges levelled against him by a PMLN MPA after no evidence was found against him.
