LAHORE, Dec 4: The Lahore District Council on Tuesday approved a Rs4.336 billion tax free surplus budget of the city district government for the remaining part of the current financial year after the opposition members walked out from the budget session.

Presenting the budget before the council, District Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood said that the district government had completed the survey of all union councils in the district. But, he said, it was engaged in the completion of development schemes started by its predecessors because of paucity of funds.

He said that the PECO Road, Badami Bagh General Bus Stand, and the Gowala Colony were the only projects to be taken in hand during the current financial year. The PECO Road was to be built because the traders of the area had offered to share its reconstruction costs whereas the General Bus Stand and the Gowala Colony development was to be completed from the funds to be generated from the two areas.

The Nazim said that the city district government would be releasing Rs3 million to every union council in the district by June 30 next year irrespective of the political affiliations of the Nazims. Every union council Nazim had already received a sum of Rs7.500,000 already and would be receiving another Rs2.500,000 shortly. The remaining Rs2 million would also be made available in due course of time.

Giving the cause of over three months delay in the presentation of the budget showing a Rs689.670 million surplus at an extraordinary meeting of the LDC at the Jinnah Hall here on Tuesday morning, District Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood said that the first-ever budget being presented by him would have shown a deficit of Rs149 million if presented earlier.

Explaining the method adopted for turning the budget deficit into surplus, the District Nazim said that it had been done by including the opening balance of the previous year in the present budget. The provincial government had been requested to revise the taxes for increasing the city governments’ revenue.

He said that a major part of the budget being presented by him pertained to the expenditure on the employees of the provincial government offices transferred to the city district government and the provincial government annual development programme works. The other part pertained to the funds generated and utilized by the city district government. The provincial government ADP consisted of 41 ongoing and 150 new schemes.

Mian Aamir Mahmood said that the total expenditure on the employees of the provincial government departments transferred to the city district government and the provincial ADP works in the district was estimated at Rs2465.265 million. The allocations for the salaries of the employees, non-salary expenditure and the ADP were Rs1827.212 millions, Rs255.356 million and Rs382.697 million, respectively.

Giving details of the budget portion pertaining to the locally generated funds, he said that the city district government expected an income of Rs1929.798 from its own resources. It would have to pay Rs876.078 million as salaries to its employees besides meeting contingency expenditure of Rs1,880 million and miscellaneous expenditure of Rs134.050 million. Total expenditure would add up to Rs1871.128 million after including allocations of Rs50 million for repairs and Rs631 million for the ADP.

He said that the city district government could not complete all the development projects from its limited resources. It would, however, provide 80 per cent matching grant for projects under bottom-up planning for which the people were ready to meet 20 per cent of the costs. He said that the agriculture department employees were being sent to the union council offices in the rural areas for providing advice and assistance to the farmers.

Mian Aamir Mahmood said that a new command and control system was being developed to improve the working of the basic health units, rural health centres, population welfare centres, dispensaries and hospitals in the district through better administration without involving additional expenditure. The rural areas like Raiwind, Shamke Bhatian, Barki, Kahna, Hudiara, Batapur and Manga would also benefit from basic health facilities.

He said that the city district government had taken steps to ensure transparency in the utilization of funds so that the public funds were utilized for the welfare of the people. He said that the city government experience was not only new but also novel under which the elected representatives of the people were being given an opportunity to run the government at the district level. They would have to devise their own course of action because precedents did not exist for their guidance.

He said that the first budget of the city district government would provide foundations for its future performance. He said that union council Nazims in the district had not been consulted for the preparation of the budget because funds were not available for inclusion of their schemes in it.

WALKOUT: A number of union council Nazims and councillors representing women, workers, minorities and farmers protested against the printing of the budget in English, delivery of its copies at the commencement of the budget session of the council instead of providing with the copies of agenda delivered several days back and demanded adjournment of the meeting for a day to enable them to study the budget. They staged a walkout when Naib Nazim Farooq Amjad Mir, who was presiding over the session, refused to accept their demand. The budget was approved in their absence.