- Govt has decided to establish two universities and 14 new colleges, and upgrade 200 primary schools to middle schools to impart quality education to students
- Bans purchase of luxury vehicles as well as visits of legislators and bureaucrats to foreign countries on govt funds
With an effort to improve key social indicators, the Balochistan government claims to have given top priority to the education and health sectors in the financial budget for the year 2014-15.
Mir Khalid Langove, finance adviser to the Balochistan chief minister, presented in the provincial assembly on Thursday a deficit budget with total volume of over Rs 215 billion, as compared to Rs 198.395 billion total outlay for last year’s budget.
The Balochistan government has decided to establish two universities and 14 new colleges, and upgrade 200 primary schools to middle schools to impart quality education to students in the province.
“The government has allocated a substantial amount for repair of impoverished schools across the province,” said Langove.
He said that a cadet college would be established at the Chaman border-town at the cost of Rs 1 billion. Universities would be established at Gwadar, Turbat and Loralai areas of the province to ensure access to higher education to students in their own areas, he said.
Regarding the health sector, Langove said that 70 vaccination centres would be set up across the province and Rs1billion were allocated for the purchase of equipment for government-run hospitals in the province. Similarly, Rs 1.24 billion have been allocated for the provision of free medicine to patients across the province.
“Now Balochistan can be called a polio-free province,” Langove said while referring to poliovirus.
With regard to law and order, he told the house that 27 per cent budget for law and order was increased and that the government had decided to impart modern training to police.
He said the provincial government had allocated more than Rs 17 billion for law and order, up from Rs 16 billion. Similarly, the coalition government has also decided to increase compensation for the victims of terrorism from Rs 2 million to Rs 4 million.
For the promotion of the agriculture sector, he said Rs 6.35 million were allocated whereas Rs 3 billion were allocated for the purchase of 200 new bulldozers in the province.
In an effort to improve governance, the Balochistan government has also banned the purchase of luxury vehicles as well as visits of legislators and bureaucrats to foreign countries through government funds.
Despite the financial constraints and backwardness of the province, the government has increased the non-development expenditures from Rs 154 billion to Rs 164 billion.
However, the government increased the funds for the public sector development programme from last year’s Rs 43.913 billion to Rs 50.742 billion this year.
Last year’s infighting among the coalition partners over attractive portfolios caused a six-month delay in the formation of the cabinet in Balochistan.
The provincial government could not complete the development projects owing to delayed formation of the cabinet. “Government could not use more than Rs 2 billion for development projects,” an official said.
Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Malik Baloch told reporters that the funds would not lapse and a mechanism was prepared to re-use it upon completion of ongoing projects.
The government also increased the salaries and pensions of government employees by 10 per cent.
