Budget 2023-24: AJK govt to prioritise economic uplift of region: PM

ISLAMABAD: The government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will fully focus on the economic uplift of the region aiming at bringing prosperity to the masses in budget 2023-24.

This was stated by the Prime Minister (PM) of AJK, Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, while addressing a consultative meeting on the upcoming budget of the state here on Tuesday. The AJK premier said that the government is determined in bringing economic prosperity to all sectors of the economy.

The PM said that the government will ensure the equal distribution of resources in various sectors including education and health.

“Special importance should be given to education, health, tourism, agriculture, livestock and information technology,” he emphasized to the government officials. He said, “Continuity of providing facilities to the people should be maintained by presenting a balanced and people-friendly budget”.

The PM said that the government recently has already chalked out a plan of reforming the health sector of the state, according to which MRI and CT scan machines will be installed in the entire district Headquarters (DHQs) Hospitals of the AJK costing multi-billion rupees.

Addressing the meeting, the PM said that the budget should be enhanced for every department in order to achieve institutional stability and strength. He said that the health and education sectors need to be specifically targeted.

He said that in the budget it should be ensured provision of balanced funds to all sectors, including hydraulic power, education, tourism, information, electronics, public health, physical planning, local government, electronics, livestock, agriculture, sports, information and agriculture.

He said that viable work plans have been devised to spend the surplus of the budget on the welfare of the people, adding that the government needs to improve the infrastructure as well as the quality of education in universities, colleges, and schools. “When resources are given, they will deliver results, the same way, there is a need to improve the quality of divisional, district and tehsil level hospitals so that the people can get the best health facilities, new ideas are needed in the field of tourism, agriculture, livestock and information technology so that the society as a whole can improve,” he maintained.

He added, “Innovative ideas are encouraged in the new budget. Any idea will be encouraged which will bring overall benefit and increase convenience for people.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023