Punjab Finance Minister Makhoom Hashim Jawan Bakht on Friday presented the Punjab budget for fiscal year 2019-20 with an outlay of more than Rs 2300 billion in the provincial assembly. During his budget speech, the minister said that social protection, human development and regional equalization is the priority of government and it has allocated Rs 350 billion for development budget while Rs 1717 billion rupees has been earmarked for non-development purpose in the proposed budget.
According to the budget documents, the government has allocated Rs 350 billion for annual development program despite difficult economic conditions and lack of resources which is 47% more as compared to the last year. In the proposed budget, an estimate of collections worth 1990 billion rupees has been ascertained under the head of general revenue receipts.
The government has allocated an amount of Rs 40.76 billion for development budget which is 100 percent more as compared to the last year budget allocation. Punjab is expected to receive an amount of more than 1601. 46 billion under the head of NFC while Rs 388. 4 billion is expected under the head of provincial receipts.
The total estimate of ongoing expenditure of the province will be Rs 1298.8 billion out of which Rs 337.6 billion has been allocated for salaries, Rs 244.9 billion for pension, Rs 437.1 billion for local government and Rs 279.2 billion has been allocated for service delivery expenditure. There is an increase of 2.7 percent in the ongoing expenditure as compared to the current budget. The government has earmarked Rs 233 billion in surplus like previous year which is used for reducing national budget deficit.
For the first time, the budget is equally distributed among all regions of Punjab with 35 percent for South Punjab. It was also decided by the cabinet that development funds allocated for South Punjab will only be used in South.
The minister said that education and health sector is the priority of PTI government and it has allocated Rs 383 billion for education and Rs 279 billion for health which is 20 percent more than the amount allocated by the PML (N) government in its last budget.
The government has allocated Rs 2 billion for "Sehat Ka Insaaf Card" and this program will be extended to 36 districts. Besides establishing "Aab-e-Pak Authority", the government has allocated Rs 8 billion for the provision of the clean drinking water.
According to the budget estimates, the government has earmarked Rs 7.85 billion for subsidies on pesticides, seeds, e credit and Fasal Beema Program. It has also decided to issue Agri Smart Card for farmers.
While talking about the priorities of government, Hashim said the government is focusing on social protection, human development and regional equalization and it had allocated Rs 125 billion for social sector, Rs 88 billon for infrastructure development, Rs 34 billion for production sector, Rs 21 billion for service sector, Rs 17 billion for different departments, RS 23 billion for special programs and RS 42 billion for public private partnership.
The government has also decided to establish industrial and economic zones in the province. In this regard, the government is planning to establish Allama Iqbal Industrial Zone in Faisalabad with the amount of Rs 23 billion.
The government is initiating different programs under Punjab Ahsas Program. For initiating " Ba Himat Buzurg Program" for senior citizens, it has allocated Rs 3 billion to provide financial assistance to 1,50,000 people of 65 years and above in form of Rs 2000 per month allowance.
The minister said that the government is also introducing "Hum Qadam" program for disabled persons with the amount of Rs 3.5 billion. It will give Rs 2000 per month to 200,000 people under this program. The government is introducing "Sarparast Program" for the welfare of widows and orphans with the proposed allocation of Rs 2 billion.
The government has allocated Rs 200 million for the welfare of eunuchs under "Musawat Program" besides introducing "Nai Zindagi Program" with the amount of Rs 100 million. The government is starting a five year program for the economic empowerment of women with the amount of Rs 8 billion.
The minister added that the PTI government has earmarked Rs 300 million for the families of martyrs who lost their lives in terrorist activities under "Khiraj-e- Shuhada Program". The Punjab government will establish Panah Gahs in nine divisional headquarters of the province. The Punjab government has allocated Rs 1.54 billion for the provision of basic civic facilities to the five cities of Punjab. It will also provide funds for the establishment of cardiology hospital and technical center in Kharan, he added.
Comments
Comments are closed.