The government has been asked to incorporate the input of general public in the budget making process and give people an easy access to the details of taxes and expenditures.
A seminar was organised by Center for peace & development Initiatives (CPDI) here at Bisham on Friday. People from the different walk of life who were hailing from Lower Kohistan participated in the seminar.
While addressing the seminar, the organiser Muhammad Zahir said that the Budget is the most important policy document of the government. In the modern-day state policies are supposed to be formulated through active public participation.
He said the budget-making process must ensure broad-based consultations with various internal and external stakeholders in different regions across the country. There is a need to promote evidence-based decision making in the context of budget formulation.He said the annual budget is a projection of revenue and expenditure for the next year and a vision of the government.
The organiser said that the development plan should be tailored to the needs of the areas. He said that CNBA network raised issues, which needed government’s attention for improved and more efficient budget making. It is expected that this Charter of Demand would help in further advancing the cause of reforms, especially after it has been shared with and owned by civil society and other stakeholders.
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He said that the budget documents should provide complete details of all the proposed taxation and expenditure measures in the interest of transparency and serving citizens’ right to information guaranteed by Article 19A of the Constitution.
Aurang Zeeb a participant on the occasion urged the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa holding of local body elections because in last tenure the Kohistan districts has not the local government bodies.
He said, government should publicise the budget record and must be in spreadsheet of Excel so that every citizen could get information about their respective areas.
Rasool Khan, an elder of Bankad, claimed that Kohistan inhabitants had been kept deprived from the right of education and that was the key reason of its backwardness.
He said, when locals get education they would make struggle for the district progress.
