Ghor residents protest against ‘unbalanced budget’

FEROZKOH (Pajhwok): A number of residents of western Ghor province on Wednesday staged a protest demonstration against ‘unbalanced budget” for next fiscal year.

The protestors, including residents and provincial council members, claimed that balance for basic development had not been considered in the 1399 fiscal year’s budget plan and the government had no major projects for Ghor next year.

They criticized the government and said despite Ghor people’s unflinching support for government programs, they continued to face discrimination with regard their economic situation.

Mohammad Gul Poya, one of the protestors, said, “No any effective important projects influence public livelihood could be implemented in this province, our people have always raised their voices for construction of central road and electricity, but these voices are always ignored by the central government.”

Abdul Qadir Ghafori, another protestor, said, “We the Ghor people want the government to hear our voices.”

The protestors also released a resolution in which they said people of the province had always supported government programs while the government had ignored their basic demands.

Abdul Hamid Natiqi, a provincial council member, warned to stage more protests if the people of the province were paid no attention.

“We want the central government and the parliament to pay attention to the people of this province, the main road of Ghor which is the central highway should be constructed and added to the budget plan,” he said.

On the other hand, local officials say they have listed all basic projects and demands of Ghor people in the draft budget plan for 1399 solar year.

Abdulhai Khatibi, spokesman for Ghor governor, said, “The local administration has listed all plans and projects for Ghor in the budget plan and has shared it with ministries months before the new year, but unfortunately the government pays no attention on the regard.”

A day earlier, Ministry of Finance rejected claims about lack of balance in the next year’s budget plan and said the budget plan was prepared by relevant ministries and more budget was allocated to less developed provinces.

According to MoF, the next fiscal year’s budget draft includes 289 billion afghanis for general and 139 billion afghanis for development purposes.

Mds/ma