Lahore, March 06: In a workshop held in Lahore today, the speakers demanded that the Standing Committees in the Punjab Assembly should be given a role in the provincial budget process. It is only through Committees that citizens can interact with the legislature and provide their suggestions and demands for annual budget.

The workshop was held for citizens and citizens groups to discuss ways and means, together with members of the Punjab Assembly, on how to articulate and share their suggestions in the annual provincial budget.

Mr. Irfan Qaiser Shaikh, President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that we believe that time for step-change in the management of public finance has arrived. Pakistan desperately needs to improve tax-to-GDP ratio. This is only possible when citizens have trust in the government's ability to skillfully manage fiscal affairs at all levels. Sub-national budget-making is critical in this regard as essential public services are increasingly being provided at this level. The private sector in general and Lahore Chamber in particular takes an efficiency-enhancing view of public finance. We also support fiscal decentralization to make devolution more meaningful. More and more tax revenue generation capacity needs to be built at provincial and local level. He said that private sector, academia and civil society are the key stakeholders of any process involving public policy and funds. But the entire budget-making process is one-sided having no formal or informal consultation mechanism for engaging citizens and representatives of the private sector.

Dr. Prof Ashraf Nizami, President Pakistan Medical Association, emphasized that the health budget should be increased and more funds should be allocated towards prevention of diseases. He was of the opinion that funds should be stipulated towards eradicating diseases that can be cured by immunization.

Mr. Hamid Malhi, Director, Farmers Associates of Pakistan lamented that there is no mechanism at the moment to enable the members of the Punjab Assembly to influence the budget in light of the expectations of the Citizens. He said that since the members of the Punjab Assembly lack basic facilities like an office and staff and are not equipped to analyze the budget and seek or incorporate their suggestions in the budget process, they are also ill-equipped to seek citizens views or influence the budget. He was critical of the government for including items related to agriculture in the positive list for trade with India. He said that this has been done without any consultation with the stake holders. He was of the opinion that the standing committees of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab should be made more effective and given a key role in the budget process. He further said that the committees should have the suo-moto powers so that they can become effective.

Mr. Abbas Rashid, Convener, Democracy and Citizenship, Society for the Advancement of Education (SAHE), emphasized the need of allocating funds for the schools with missing facilities. He said that nearly, 2000 schools were affected due to massive floods of the year 2010. An estimated cost to the damage was PKR 2.0 billion for rehabilitation of school buildings and infrastructure. The Punjab Government did not allocate any funds in this realm and all the support came from the international development agencies only despite the fact that citizens recorded various concerns and civil society organizations highlighted this issue on different forums. The demand for greater government accountability and responsiveness as well as better delivery of public services has increased manifold in Pakistan over recent years. In such a situation incorporating expectations of citizens in the process of public policy such as the budget making process is essential, he opined.

Earlier Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director PILDAT, welcomed the participants and said that the practice of consultation with the citizens in the budget process is a norm in the developed democracies of the world. He emphasized that this practice should also be adopted in Pakistan which is a developing democracy.

PILDAT organised this briefing session under the project Parliamentary and Political Party Strengthening-II which is funded through Canada�s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade � DFAIT. The project is implemented jointly by the Parliamentary Centre, Canada and PILDAT.

The briefing session was followed by an interactive question answer session.

Member of the Punjab Assembly who participated in the workshop are: Mr. Sher Ali Khan, MPA (PML; PP-17; Attock-III), Ms. Mahmuda Cheema, MPA ( PML-N; W-313), Mrs. Shameela Aslam, MPA (PML-N; W-308), Ms. Deeba Mirza, MPA (PML-N; W-318), Ms. Shagufta Sheikh, MPA (PML-N; W-323), Mrs. Naseem Lodhi, MPA (PML; W-347), Mian Muhammad Rafique, MPA (PML-N; PP-90; Tobba Taek Singh-VII), Mr. Muhammad Sana Ullah Khan Masti Khel, MPA (PML-N; PP-47; Bhakkar-I), Ms. Maiza Hameed, MPA (PML-N;W-310), Mrs. Naseem Nasir Khawaja, MPA (PML-N;W-314), Mr. Adil Khan Rokhari, MPA (PML-N; PP-44; Mianwali-II), Ch. Awais Aslam Midhana, MPA (PPPP; PP-31; Sargodha IV), Ms. Joyce Rufin Julius, MPA (PML; NM-370), Col (Retd). Muhammad Abbas Chaudhry, MPA (PML; PP-134; Narowal-III), Ch. Abdullah Yousaf, MPA (PML; PP-109; Gujrat-II), Engineer Qamar Ul Islam Raja, MPA (PML; PP-5; Rawalpindi-V), Hafiz Muhammad Qamar Hayat Kathiya, MPA (PML; PP-79; Jhang-VII), Mr. Javed Alloudin Sajid, MPA (PPPP; PP-186;Okara-II), Sardar Malik Jahanzeb Warn, MPA (PML-N; PP-269; Bahawalpur III), Malik Adil Hussain Utra, MPA (PML-N; PP-50; Bhakar IV), Mr. Khalid Javed Asghar Ghural, MPA (PML; PP-108; Gujrat-I), Ms. Sakina Shaheen Khan, MPA (PML-N; W-321), Mr. Ijaz Ahmad Khan, MPA (PML-N; PP-150; Lahore-XV), Ms. Anjum Safdar, MPA (PML-N; W-304), Mr. Imran Ashraf, MPA (PML-N;PP-123; Sialkot-IV), Ms. Kiran Dar, MPA (PML-N; W-312), Ms. Rehana Hadees, MPA (PML-N; W-327), Ms. Nafisa Amin, MPA (PML-N; W-301), Mehr Ijaz Ahmad Achlana, MPA (PML-N; PP-265; Lyaah - IV), Mrs. Rahat Ajmal, MPA ( PML-N; W-326).