- Advertisement -
LAHORE, Jun 25 (APP):Provincial Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman on Tuesday while summarising the ongoing debate on the Budget 2024-25 in the Punjab Assembly (PA) said that Rs10 billion had been allocated for the Chief Minister’s Kisan Card and Rs 4 billion for the Chief Minister’s Roshan Gharana programme.
While speaking on the floor of the House, the finance minister said that till the next budget, cleanliness drive would be conducted through solid waste management companies in all districts of Punjab.
The PA session started with a delay of one hour and 39 minutes with Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan in chair.
The finance minister said that CM Maryam Nawaz had laid the foundation for the sustainable development and prosperity of the province, adding that the budget of 54,446 billion rupees was a surplus budget while 842 billion rupees were earmarked for development budget. He said that members of the Punjab Assembly fully participated in the budget discussion for four days.
Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that for the agriculture sector Rs 117 billion had been allocated out of which 64 billion rupees for development budget, adding that Rs1.3 billion had been allocated for social security and Rs1.2 billion for solid waste management.
He said that for the CM’s Kisan Card Rs10 billion had been reserved and the programme would be inaugurated by the chief minister, adding that Rs 4 billion had been reserved for the Chief Minister Roshan Gharana programme and under which solar panels would be given free to people.
The finance minister said for the CM’s laptop scheme, Rs 6 billion had been allocated for the students across Punjab, adding that for the smog policy Rs 22 billion had been allocated; 2.5 billion rupees for minorities; Rs 26 billion for agriculture sector subsidy; 24 billion rupees for transport sector and Rs 42.60 billion had been set aside for Primary and Secondary Healthcare department.
He said that in terms of salaries, Rs 603 and for pension Rs 451 billion had been allocated, adding that the inflation rate had come to 11.8 per cent as well.
He said air ambulance was a great initiative of chief minister Punjab. There would be a separate air ambulance for Central, North and South Punjab on which the government was working, he added and said, “We have not imposed a single new tax in Punjab, the provincial tax revenue target is 471 billion and the non-tax revenue is Rs 486 billion.”
The session approved 41 demands for grant while the presented 15 cut motions which were rejected by the majority members.
While speaking on the floor of the House, Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said that the Punjab was facing a shortage of 118,000 teachers which would be addressed in a proper way.
MPAs Sardar Muhammad Ali Khan, Nadeem Qureshi and Nadia Khar also spoke on education from the opposition side.