Sindh Assembly passes budget, opposition rejects.

Karachi -- Amid opposition protest in the Sindh Assembly, the provincial government got approval of its demands for grants of over Rs1.24 trillion budget for fiscal year 2020-21 with majority of votes.

The lawmakers of Tehreek-e-Insaf and Grand Democratic Alliance started protesting soon after Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah who also holds finance portfolio rose to move demands for supplementary grants 2019-20. Opposition Leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi said the provincial government had failed to provide 'genuine' reason for supplementary expenditures in the fiscal year 2019-20. He asked the government to inform the assembly members as to why it needed supplementary expenditures.

The PTI and GDA members gathered in front of the Speaker's dice and chanted 'shame shame and Jhoot Jhoot (lie lie) slogans while the Chief Minister kept moving the demands for supplementary as well as grants for Annual Expenditure 2020-21.

While the opposition members were protesting, Murad got approval of 43 demands for supplementary expenditures during the last year. A total 157 demands, authorizing the provincial government for expenditures of over Rs 1.24 trillion were also approved by the assmebly with majority of votes.

Murad said that for the first time in his parliamentary career, the budget was passed in

half-an-hour which he said reflected trust if opposition who didn't move cut motions. 'I am thankful to the opposition for reposing their confidence in the budget, 2020-21 because they did not submit a single cut motion. He added that instead of participating in the budgetary process they preferred to remind us their days of dharna on the container and make hooliganism and disturbed the house,' he added. The CM said since the provincial government didn't impose new taxes, there was no need to passage of Finance Bill.

Purchase of vehicles

The Chief Minister said that his government had banned purchase of vehicles during Covid-19 emergency and any operational vehicle which had to be purchased would now needed cabinet approval. Comparing the last four years expenditure of Sindh government with other provincial governments and the federal government, on purchase of vehicles, Murad said that during the last four years, 2016-17 to 2018-19, Sindh government had purchased vehicles of Rs7.2 billion while the Punjab government spent Rs16.15 billion, Balochistan Rs7.8 billion, KPK spent Rs5.2 billion and the federal government spent Rs23.01 billion for the same...