Punjab govt presents Rs 1.68tr, ‘development oriented’ budget

• Rs 1.68 trillion budget presented by Ayesha Ghaus Pasha amid opposition’s protest
• Rs 550 billion development budget announced, Salary of government employees raised by 10 per cent; Minimum wage set at Rs 14,000
• Rs 804 billion allocated for education, health, agriculture, clean drinking water and law and order

The Punjab government unveiled Rs 1.68 trillion budget for Punjab for Fiscal Year 2016-2017 on Monday in the 22^nd session of the Punjab Assembly amid protest by the opposition parties.

Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha presented the budget in a session presided over by Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, which was also attended by Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.

The Punjab government presented the Rs 1.68 trillion budget for FY 2016-2017 with a sum of Rs 550 billion allocated for the Annual Development Programme (ADP). A sum of Rs 280 billion will be generated through provincial revenues while Rs 1.039 trillion will be received from the Federal Divisible Pool as per the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

Dr Pasha said in her speech that government employees play an important role in implementing the projects of national growth and this very community is affected the most by inflation.

“The Punjab government has decided to give a raise of 10 per cent to government employees,” she said in her speech amid “Go-Nazwaz-Go” slogans by the opposition. The minimum wage for labourers has been set at Rs 14,000 and the Punjab government will ensure proper implementation of this measure, she said.

ANNUAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME:

The Punjab government has earmarked Rs 550 billion for development projects in its budget for 2016-17. The amount is 37.5 per cent higher than last year’s ADP which was Rs 400 billion. According to Dr Pasha, 0.5 million employment opportunities will be generated through these development projects.

She added that out of the Rs 550 billion for ADP, Rs 168.87 billion had been proposed to be allocated for vital social sectors including education, health, water supply and sanitation, women development and social security. She said that social sector development budget consisted of 31 per cent of the total ADP. In the development budget, higher education will get Rs 17.218 billion while Rs 47.760 billion will be given for school education.

Moreover, Rs 18 billion has been earmarked in the ADP for primary and secondary healthcare while specialised health care and medical education will get Rs 24.5 billion in the ADP.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT:

Punjab government has earmarked Rs 79 billion for roads in the ADP while Rs 9 billion will go to energy projects in the province.

“A Chinese company has started working on Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park project which will produce 900 MW of electricity,” the Punjab finance minister said and added that this project will start providing 300 MW to the national grid in a few days,”

A 1230 MW plant in Jhang, a 1223 MW power plant in Baloki and a power plant of 1320 MW in Sahiwal will be completed by 2017, she added.

PRODUCTION SECTOR:

In the production sector, Rs 20 billion has been earmarked for the agriculture sector in the ADP while Rs 9 billion has been allocated for livestock in the province. Furthermore, Rs 12.5 billion has been allocated for industries, commerce and investment while Rs 1.89 billion has been earmarked for mines and minerals.

LAW AND ORDER:

According to Dr Pasha, the incidents of terrorism have decreased by 67 per cent as compared to last year due to coordination between the federal and provincial governments and implementation of the National Action Plan. She paid a glowing tribute to the martyred home minister of Punjab Col (r) Shuja Khanzada who lost his life in a suicide attack at his residence in Attock.

A sum of Rs 145 billion has been earmarked for law and order in the budget for FY-2016-2017.

“The Punjab government has started ‘Punjab Safe City’ project in six major cities: Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan and Bahawalpur. The total estimate of the project is Rs 44 billion,” she said, and added that the goal of the project is to maintain the security of these cities through the use of modern techniques of law and order. The project will be completed by December 2017, she said.

The finance minister said that education, health, agriculture, clean drinking water and law and order are the main priorities of the Punjab government in FY 2016-2017. She said that the government has decided to allocate 57 per cent of the total budget to these five important sectors and the allocated amount for these sectors will be Rs 804 billion. The amount allocated for education has been increased by 47 per cent while the development budget for health has been increased by 62 per cent, she added. The amount allocated for clean drinking water is 88 per cent higher than last year, according to Dr Pasha.

OPPOSITION PROTESTS:

The opposition parties recorded a strong protest during the speech of the finance minister and kept chanting ‘Go-Nawaz-Go’ and ‘Go-Shahbaz-Go’ slogans. The slogans and noise by the opposition created problems for the finance minister delivering her budget speech. The chief minister, however, kept thumping his desk to acclaim the policies of his government.

Leader of Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said while talking to media personnel outside the assembly that the opposition has rejected the budget.

“More than ten million children are out of school while the government is spending huge sums of money on bridges and metro trains,” he said.

Parliamentary Leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Qazi Ahmad Saeed said the government has neglected South Punjab in this budget and called it ‘Shahbaz Sharif’s budget’ instead of Punjab budget.

Parliamentary Leader of Jamat-e-Islami Dr Waseem Akhtar also rejected the budget and said that it is a budget of the ‘Sharif Family’ and that there is nothing in it for the people of Punjab.

The session has been postponed until Thursday 11 am.