LAHORE: The Punjab government on Wednesday presented the budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 after considerable delay but at a different venue than the conventional one as the treasury and Opposition benches failed to reach a consensus over convening a session.
After a two-day-long delay, Finance Minister Punjab Sardar Awais Laghari unveiled the Rs3.226 trillion provincial budget for the fiscal year 2022-23, terming it a “pro-poor and pro-development budget”.
The Opposition and the government convened two separate sessions at the Punjab Assembly and the Aiwan-e-Iqbal, respectively. The former’s session started today but has been adjourned till 1pm tomorrow, while the Aiwan-e-Iqbal session started after 4pm.
The Opposition’s session took place at the Punjab Assembly with speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the chair. During the session, the Opposition lawmakers criticised the government and PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar — who had been asked to leave the Punjab Assembly two days back during the first session of the budget.
The Opposition was irked and demanded that the inspector-general and chief secretary be present during the session. As a result, the two sides could not develop a consensus over the issues.