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.
‘Growth’ budget 2022-23 at a glance
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.
