PTI leaders accuse PPP of criticising budget 2020-21 without reading it

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Saturday said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the ruling party in Sindh, was criticising budget 2020-21 without even reading it, warning it that the party may reply in the same tone when the Sindh government presents its budget soon. 

PTI leaders Haleem Adil Sheikh and Firdous Shamim Naqvi said during a press conference that the PPP was not happy with the federal budget because the federal government had given relief to the poor masses and increased taxes on luxury and imported goods. 

Sheikh said the PPP was not happy because double-cabin vehicles, imported cigarettes and chocolates had been made more expensive, while cement, petrol, cooking oil, shoes, houses and other commodities of daily use had become cheaper. 

“Imported energy drinks have been made costlier because the poor do not need them. They already have high energy," he chuckled.  The PTI leader said the federal government, however, could not announce any increment in the salaries due to financial constraints. 

Sheikh maintained that during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, whatever relief the federal government was able to announce was a big achievement. He said that despite being a poor country, Pakistan was giving relief to its people. “The paper for printing Holy Quran has been made cheaper but cigarette paper has been made costlier,” he added. 

He said the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (SIDCL) had been working for the development of the province but the PPP was not happy with the body because it was installing reverse osmosis (RO) plants in Thar to provide water to the desert’s residents.

“The PPP did mega corruption by installing RO plants in Thar through the Omni Group,” the PTI parliamentary leader alleged. He went on to say that the Real East India Company was in fact the Omni Company of 'Uncle Sugar’.

Sheikh said that two things that have been harming the country are the corruption mafia and locusts. He said the PPP was criticising the federal budget without reading it. “They [PPP leaders] should remember that they would also present a budget in Sindh and we can reply in the same currency.” He stated that the PPP leaders were not ready to listen to him because he spoke the truth. 

Talking about the protesting doctors and paramedics in Sindh, Sheikh said that they had taken to the streets over the past few days because no facilities, including safety gears, had been given to them. He added that instead of giving funds to government hospitals in Sindh, the provincial government had given Rs30 million to the Indus Hospital, which was only running eight ventilators. 

The PTI leader questioned why funds were provided to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and the Civil Hospital in Karachi. He said the federal government had given Rs13 billion to the hospitals of Sindh and it would run them efficiently so that no patient would commit suicide by jumping from any hospital building. 

Addressing the criticism against the increment in the defence budget, Sheikh said it was necessary for the country. “If the country’s defence was not strong today, we would have become another Syria. We will augment our defence system. We sleep soundly because our brave armed forces are there to defend the country”. 

He stated the Sindh government had handed 111 health facilities over to non-government organisations and there were no facilities available at those hospitals.

The government had given land to the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) for serving the poor, he said, adding that the previous day the AKUH charged a poor patient Rs1.9 million for treatment. He appealed to Prince Karim Aga Khan to look into the matter and ensure that the AKUH provided free healthcare facilities to the poor people. Naqvi maintained that the federal government had presented a good tax-free budget despite a very difficult situation. 

The PTI leader said many businesses had been given support and many sectors provided immense relief in the latest budget. He added that taxes could give relief to this country from loans and there was a 9% deficit in the federal budget. Naqvi said a cut in the defence expenditures was not possible due to present existential threats to the country. 

He said the federal government had earmarked Rs13 billion for three big hospitals of Karachi and demanded a proper audit of funds for the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases.

"Not only politicians but bureaucrats in Pakistan are also corrupt, Naqvi said, wondering who had issued fake domiciles to people. "A lot of people migrated from Karachi to other cities due to law and order problems," he said.