Lawmakers are calling on the government to support the salaried, agriculture and IT sectors

Lawmakers in the National Assembly on Friday urged the government to focus on people-centric policies in the 2024 budget and provide relief to daily wage workers, agriculture and information technology sectors.

Muhammad Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) called the 2024-2025 budget traditional and similar to the previous budgets of the last 77 years.

He said most of the budget goes towards debt service and it is the government’s responsibility to include public issues in the budget.

He criticized the budget for favoring the rich and called for greater support for agriculture and relief for wage earners.

Sattar also called for a review of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, rectification of Karachi’s water woes and improvement of the city’s drainage system. He said incentives were needed to attract foreign direct investment and support economic growth.

Asia Naz Tanoli of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stated that in 2018, the government resolved the load-shedding issue and allocated more funds for development projects during the PML-N tenure.

She commended Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif for improving the country’s economy and global confidence. She asked the government to launch metro bus services from Taxila to Islamabad.

Omer Farooq of the Sunni Ittehad Council thanked his party chairman and voters. He said corruption must be tackled and called for more aid to the agricultural, industrial and information technology sectors to create employment opportunities.

He also mentioned the law and order problems in his constituency.