Assembly passes budget as opposition withdraw cut motions

PESHAWAR
The session of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly chaired by Speaker Babar Salim Swati here Thursday passed eleven month excessive budget of Rs 1456 billion for 2023-24 after approving all demands for grants.
Ministers tabled demands for grants of their respective departments while opposition withdrew their cut motions on the request of treasury benches. Afterwards, the budget was passed when Speaker approved all 66 demands for grants.
At the outset of session, treasury member, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, opposition members including Sobia Shahid of PMLN, Ejaz Muhammad and Rehana Ismail of JUI presented their cut motion when law minister tabled demands for grants of Rs 5.84166 billion that was being spent by caretaker setup.
Sobia Shahid demanded action against culprits of May 9 vandalism and said that monuments of martyred were damaged and building of Radio Pakistan was set ablaze on that day. She said that people might start protest again if perpetrators were not punished
Mushtaq Ghani also demanded judicial inquiry on May 9 incident to sift fiction from reality. He withdrew cut motion later when Speaker placated him and said that budget would be revised if cut motions were accepted.
All the members withdrew cut motion after assurance of law minister to accept demands of opposition members.