Punjab will unveil the provincial budget with a total allocation of Rs3.226 for the incoming fiscal year, with over Rs127 billion reserved for the health card and a 15% pay raise, The News reported Monday.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has decided to appoint Sardar Awais Laghari to the portfolio of finance minister to present the budget in today's session summoned by Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman.
The government has planned an over Rs350 billion subsidy package in the budget, including Rs200 billion for flour subsidy and Rs134 billion for other subsidies.
A new subsidy of Rs15 billion is earmarked to the power consumers with up to 200 units consumption. Further, the subsidy on public transport will also continue.
The government intends to increase the subsidy on public transport to encourage people to use it and reduce personal vehicles to reduce petrol consumption.
Like the federal government, the Punjab government has also decided to increase salaries and pension of employees with a similar proportionate alongside merging the previous ad hoc increases into the basic salary.
By doing it, almost a 20% real time increase will be in the salaries.
The Punjab government will also continue the PTI’s flagship project of health card with a whooping allocation of Rs127.34 billion. According to the proposed plan, the total allocation for the Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2022-23 is Rs683.5 billion.
The health sector has the highest allocation with Rs173 billion, including Rs152 billion for specialised healthcare and medical education and Rs21 billion for primary and secondary healthcare.
The special initiatives/programmes have the second highest allocation of Rs110.5 billion, while the road sector has the third highest allocation with Rs78 billion.
The education sector’s total development allocation is Rs56.2 billion. School education gets Rs39 billion, higher education Rs13 billion, special education Rs1.2 billion and literacy and non-formal education Rs3 billion.
According to the proposed plan, Rs7.5 billion was earmarked for sports and youth affairs, Rs2.4 billion for population welfare, Rs1.6 billion for social welfare, Rs11.95 billion for water supplies and sanitation, while Rs900 million for women development.
The government has planned to allocate Rs19.05 billion to local government and community development projects, Rs78 billion to roads and infrastructure, Rs27.63 billion to energy, Rs21.37 billion to urban development, Rs14.77 billion to agriculture, Rs4.5 billion to forestry, Rs990 million to wildlife, Rs1.1 billion to fisheries, and Rs500 million to food department development projects.
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