Opposition MPAs complain of being left out of uplift programme.

PESHAWAR -- Opposition members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday criticised the provincial government for 'ignoring' them during the allocation of funds for the next fiscal's development schemes and insisted that most of the uplift funding would go to the constituencies of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's members in 2022-23.

They said all residents of the province paid equal taxes but those living in their (opposition lawmakers') areas were largely discriminated against during the distribution of development schemes.

The session, which had Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan in the chair, also concluded debate on the 2022-23 provincial budget.

MPA Samar Haroon Bilour of the opposition Awami National Party said the Annual Development Programme 2022-23 had a district wise disparity with a big chunk of funds going to MPAs of the ruling PTI.

House completes debate on 2022-23 budget

She said a paltry sum of Rs2.5 million funds had been reflected in the budget book for Kolai-Palas district, which was the most underdeveloped and faraway district of the province, while Swat, the native district of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, received the huge funding of Rs20.5 billion for development schemes.

She said Peshawar, which was the biggest city of the province, was also ignored in the next ADP as only Rs13.45 billion had been earmarked for its development.

MPA Ikhtiar Wali of the PML-N said constituencies of the opposition lawmakers were completely ignored by the government during the distribution of development funds for the next fiscal.

He said the government presented the budget just like the goods were sold online with the help of attractive pictures and titles.

'In reality, both (KP budget and online sale of goods) have nothing good for anyone,' he said.

The lawmaker said in the budget, the government had disclosed plans to establish five new universities in the province but allocated just Rs10,000 for the purpose.

He asked the chair if it was possible to establish five universities at the cost of Rs10,000.

Mr Wali asked the PTI leadership to 'step out of the world of social media', where massive prosperity and development was showed in the province though there's nothing of the sort on ground.

He rejected the criticism of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the recent increase in fuel prices and insisted that the last PM Imran Khan-led federal...