ISLAMABAD:
The National Assembly officially began adopting the federal budget for 2026-2027 on Sunday, approving 125 subsidy requests worth 9.171 billion rupees after rejecting 307 reduction motions proposed by the majority opposition.
The House met under the chairmanship of Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented grant requests relating to the National Assembly, Senate and 31 ministries and divisions for approval.
The opposition presented 307 suppression motions, including 90 against 18 requests from the Cabinet Division, 116 against six requests from the Energy Division and 100 against 12 requests from the Finance Division. All deleted motions were rejected by the House.
The House approved Rs1.53 trillion for the division of the Cabinet, rejecting all 90 motions for its deletion. It also topped Rs 4,262 trillion for the finance division and Rs 6,610 trillion for the power division, with the opposition’s reduction motions rejected in both cases.
Among other approvals, the House cleared 389 billion rupees for the climate change division, 279.9 billion rupees for commerce and 1.25 trillion rupees for communications. Defense allocations stood at Rs 3,06,723 billion, while Rs 2.11 billion was approved for the Defense Production Division.
Economic Affairs received 150.1 billion rupees, Federal Education and Vocational Training 1.2126 billion rupees and Foreign Affairs 681.7 billion rupees. Housing and works received 223.1 billion rupees, human rights 23.3 billion rupees, industries and production 295.3 billion rupees and interior and its attached departments 450.4 billion rupees.
The Information and Broadcasting Division received 275.7 billion rupees, the Information Technology Division 420.7 billion rupees and the Inter-Provincial Coordination 50.2 billion rupees. Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan affairs received Rs 31.8 billion, law and justice Rs 249.1 billion and maritime affairs Rs 41.2 billion.
The National Assembly received 90.3 billion rupees, the Senate 32.1 billion rupees and the National Health Services 532.8 billion rupees. Parliamentary Affairs received 12 billion rupees, Planning Division 372.1 billion rupees and Privatization Division 17.4 billion rupees.
Railways received 1.111 trillion rupees, religious affairs 24 billion rupees, science and technology 197.4 billion rupees and water resources 1.07 trillion rupees. Separately, the debate on demands worth Rs 1.24286 trillion relating to divisions of interior, national food security and poverty alleviation, as well as 280 motions to suppress opposition, will continue on Monday.
(WITH INPUT FROM THE APPLICATION)
