The government of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) presented the last budget of its ongoing five-year tenure in Punjab on Friday during the 30th session of Punjab Assembly for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2018 amidst protests and anti-government sloganeering by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf-led opposition in the presence of Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif.
According to sources, provincial finance minister Dr Ayesha Ghuas Pasha unveiled the last budget of Shahbaz Sharif-led government with an outlay of over 1.97 trillion that is the biggest ever budget in the history of Punjab.
The PML-N government increased the amount of development budget by 15 percent as the election year is inching closer and has earmarked a hefty amount of 635 billion for the development projects during the FY 2017-2018. In the FY 2017-2018, the government has estimated the figure of current expenditures as 1021 billion that includes 258 billion for salaries, 173 billion for pensions, 361 billion for local governments and 228 billion will be spent on the service delivery.
The Punjab government has projected a receipt of 1154 billion through Federal Divisible Pool while an amount of over 348 billion will be collected through provincial revenues. The Punjab government has allocated a hefty amount of Rs 1017 billion for health, education, agriculture, law and order and local governments which is 59 per cent of the total outlay of the budget. Dr Pasha showered the praise for both Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif during her speech while giving repeated references of the much-talked about China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and claimed that the Punjab government has saved Rs 220 billion in different developments projects by ensuring austerity and transparency.
“The economy of Pakistan has exceeded the volume of 300 billion dollars while the growth rate in the ongoing fiscal year is 5.28 percent,” she said emphatically amid the slogans of ‘Go Nawaz Go’ that continued throughout the budget speech of the finance minister.
The Punjab government has increased the amount of education budget by 33 billion from last FY and allocated a sum of 345 billion for the education sector. District Education Authorities (DEAs) are functional in the province since January 2017 under the new local government system and a hefty amount of Rs 230 billion has been allocated for DEAs while 3.5 billion will be spent to provide free books to the students of public schools. As many as 1200 dilapidated school buildings will be rebuilt with an amount of 4 billion while Rs 2 billion has been allocated to provide missing facilities in the schools. Finance minister unveiled that the Punjab Education Initiative Management Authority will be established in the province that will work with the private sector for the development of education sector and an amount of 7 billion has been earmarked for this project.
The Punjab government has allocated over 263 billion for the health sector that is 15.4 per cent of the overall budget. “All the DHQs and THQs are being revamped by the Punjab government and an amount of Rs 20 billion has been allocated to improve their infrastructure and to provide modern equipments in these trauma centers,” she said. As many as 6 thousand seats of doctors and paramedics have been created while we are also planning to increase 2000 beds for patients in different hospitals, Dr Pasha said. An amount of Rs 2 billion has been earmarked for the health insurance scheme being run in the province.
An amount of Rs 25 billion has been allocated for the ‘Punjab Saaf Paani Program’ that is meant to ensure the provision of clean drinking water in the province while Rs 2.7 billion has been earmarked to expand the scope of Punjab Food Authority in all the cities of the province. The government has decided to allocate over 140 billion for the agriculture, livestock, irrigation, forestry and fisheries to promote the agriculture sector as all these departments are directly linked with the agriculture sector. Moreover, Rs 15 billion has been allocated for the farmers under the ‘Kisaan Package’ for the FY 2017-2018.
As many as Rs 198 billion has been earmarked for the law and order keeping in view the ongoing National Action Plan in the province. An amount of 45 billion has been earmarked for under the Punjab Safe City Authority as the government intends to spread the project in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha and Faisalabad and this project will be completed by the start of next year.
“Modern infrastructure is imperative for the development of Punjab and an amount of over 90 billion has been allocated to upgrade the roads, bridges and the public transport system of the province,” she said. For youth and sports affairs, 8.5 billion has been earmarked to build more stadiums and to promote healthy activities in the province.
The Punjab government has decided to initiate the Regional Development Program in order to provide facilities to the under-developed districts of the Punjab and an amount of Rs 5 billion has been allocated in this regard. Moreover, the government has set the minimum wage at Rs 15000 in the province and the salaries of government employees have been increased by 10 percent.
Friday was an unusual day in the Punjab Assembly as the entire house was completely jam-packed because of the presence of Shahbaz Sharif who rarely attends the sessions of the assembly. Some ministers kept saying the other lawmakers to thump the desks to praise the projects of the government. The speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan also requested the opposition members to return back to their seats as they were standing in front of the podium of speaker raising anti-government slogans. Opposition lawmakers tore the copies of the budget to record their protest in the house.
The budget session will remain to continue and the session will resume on Monday.
