By Asim Shahzad
LAHORE – A stormy start to the Punjab Assembly’s general budget debate saw the government and opposition locked in heated exchanges, with loud slogans and fierce accusations flying across the house.
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The uproar peaked during the speech of the Opposition Leader, who declared the 2025-26 budget anti-poor and politically motivated, aimed solely at targeting the PTI leadership rather than serving the people.
Opening his address, the Opposition Leader rejected the entire budget, claiming it was designed to provide political mileage rather than public relief.
He accused the PML-N-led government of using state resources to harass the PTI founder and his wife, Bushra Bibi, while ignoring the plight of common citizens.
“The Form-47 government claims to represent the people, but even their sponsors are dismayed by their dismal performance,” he said, referring to the sudden increase in the development budget from Rs 842 billion to Rs 1240 billion. “When you can’t even utilize Rs 842 billion, how can you handle Rs 1240 billion?”
He pointed out that no new projects had been included in the development budget and criticized the government for giving funds on a constituency basis rather than addressing broader provincial needs. “You claim to have increased the education budget, but visit a government school and you’ll see the reality. Nothing has changed on the ground,” he added.
Throughout his speech, treasury benches interrupted with chants and jeers, while opposition members retaliated, leading to near chaos inside the assembly.
Referring to inflated project costs, the Opposition Leader gave examples of flawed and wasteful governance. “During the CM’s ‘Rehri Program’, a company estimated the cost of one manhole cover at Rs 98,000, but the contract was deliberately handed to another firm quoting Rs 149,000. Then came the Rs 150 million biker lane project, which washed away in the very first rain. The Chief Minister kept saying it had a one-year warranty — was it a washing machine?”
He questioned the government’s claim of completing 6,000 development projects, saying, “That’s 16 projects per day! They’ve even counted changing a manhole cover as a separate project.”
Turning to the farmers’ crisis, the opposition leader lashed out at the government for inflicting financial damage on Punjab’s agriculture sector. “Wheat cultivation has dropped to record lows this year. Farmers are suffering a Rs 36,000 per acre loss, and the government is handing out benefits to its favourites. They claim there are only 15 million farmers in Punjab, when in reality, there are more than 80 million.”
He accused the government of halting a Rs20 billion farmer support fund and manipulating the Kisan Card program. “Farmers have been robbed through delays in wheat procurement and collapse of cotton production, which has declined by 30%,” he said, adding that over Rs 22 billion in wheat losses had been incurred since 2023.
In the education sector, he criticized the outsourcing of 25,000 out of 49,000 government schools despite 33% of children being out of school already. “Under Maryam Nawaz’s one-year tenure, over 7 million children dropped out of school,” he alleged.
He also denounced the government’s claim of standing for women’s rights. “They said women are their red line. Then why has only Rs 1.44 billion been allocated for women in this budget? Women’s dignity has been trampled the most under this regime,” he stated.
Concluding his speech, he slammed the extravagant spending in the Chief Minister’s Office and pointed to underperforming government-run textile mills, operating at a mere 37% capacity.
He said the government is more concerned with optics than real reform, leaving Punjab’s people and economy to suffer.
