News
Sunday, June 13, 2010
PML-N asks PPP to quit if it can’t deliver
* Abbasi says PPP should sit on opposition benches if it cannot check corruption
* Legislators oppose taxing agriculture sectorBy Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Saturday asked the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to quit the government in the Centre if it was unable to bring betterment to the country’s affairs.
PML-N legislator Hanif Abbasi said the PPP should sit on the opposition benches if it could not check corruption and better the country’s situation.
Taking part in the discussion on the Budget 2010-11 in the National Assembly, the PML-N member said good governance and better economic management provided the basis of effective budgeting, urging the elimination of corruption from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), where former finance minister Shaukat Tareen identified annual embezzlement of Rs 500 billion.
He said the one percent increase in sales tax was unjustified and would put additional burden on people already hit by poverty, terrorism and other crises. Abbasi said the government receives Rs 40 per kilogramme tax on ghee and while unemployment had risen to 40 percent, Rs 245 billion in subsidies were being provided to state enterprises on whom 65 million people living below the poverty line depended.
He said sugar mill owners owed Rs 30 billion to farmers and they should be taxed keeping the fact in mind. Abbasi also demanded the construction of the Kalabagh Dam to overcome the power crisis.
Taxes: Talking part in the discussion, Ghous Bakhsh Mehr said agriculture was the backbone of the country’s economy and opposed taxing the sector.
He suggested the establishment of new research departments in the agriculture sector in order to boost the country’s crop production. Mehr said the Indian government was providing subsidy on electricity to its farmers and stressed the need for taking similar steps in Pakistan.
He said there was a dire need to allocate funds for the Pakistan Railways to improve its infrastructure, as most of its engines were a hundred years old and needed replacement.
Mehr suggested elimination of corruption from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to make it more accessible to the poor and downtrodden classes of the society. Opposing taxes on the agriculture sector, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur called for a strategy to overcome the shortage of water for irrigation.
He demanded a reduction in taxes on daily use items, saying it was the only way to control inflation in the country.
Talpur criticised the law and order situation in Sindh, demanding effective steps to maintain peace and tranquillity in the province. He also called for a greater focus on the country’s education sector. SA Iqbal Qadri said landlords and influentials were dominating the nation’s political scenario and the system would not change until the masses did not change their minds on these politicians.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk