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DERA GHAZI KHAN, June 28: The district government on Saturday approved a budget of Rs1.74 billion after a little debate for the financial year 2003-2004.
On Friday, District Nazim Jamal Khan Leghari had presented the budget plan for debate and approval, but the session was adjourned for the next day due to juma prayers.
Debating on the budget, district council member Shahida Quraishi advocate pointed out that the budget was presented without following the rules of the local government ordinance.
She alleged that targets were not set in the budget while the farmers, who were in majority in the district, had been ignored. However, the budget was approved without making any amendment in it.
The District Nazim said that Rs1.19 billion would be spent on the salaries of district government employees while only Rs183.466 million would be spent on the development projects.
He said that Rs24 million had been set aside for land management, Rs2.9 million for tax management and Rs1.4 million for registration, token tax and route permits of vehicles.
At least Rs836 million had been allocated for the education sector, Rs164 million for health services, Rs21 million for agriculture, Rs852,520 for PHED, Rs21 million for veterinary and livestock, Rs1 million for industries, Rs1.4 million for miscellaneous expenditures, Rs18.6 million for civil works, Rs55 million for communication, Rs1.86 million for housing and physical planning, Rs8 million for pension contribution and Rs1 million for civil defence, he added.
It may be mentioned that an amount of Rs250 million budgetary allocation could not be utilized in the previous fiscal year.
SIALKOT: : The Tehsil Council has passed a surplus budget of Rs409 million for the financial year 2003-2004.
The budget session was chaired by convener Mehmood Ali Warraich here on Saturday.
Presenting the budget, Sialkot Tehsil Nazim Muhammad Akmal Cheema informed the House that the TMA would get an income of Rs28 million while the total expenditures had been estimated at Rs381 million.
The Tehsil Nazim said that Rs221 million had been allocated for the development schemes while Rs104 million had been earmarked for the salaries of the TMA staff.
He said the TMA expected to get an income of Rs32 million from water rates, Rs42 million from property transfer tax, Rs35 million from urban property tax, Rs3 million from professional tax, Rs4 million from single tax and Rs5 million from roads advertisement.
Frantic efforts would be made with the public cooperation for the beautification of Sialkot, he added.
Meanwhile, the Daska Tehsil Municipal Administration, in its budget session, approved a tax-free surplus budget of Rs113 million for the financial year 2003-04.
The total expenditures have been estimated as Rs106.8 million, while the TMA will get an income of over Rs6 million through this budget.
An amount of Rs50 million will be spent on development schemes, while Rs34 million have been allocated for the establishment’s expenditures. The TMA will get an additional income of Rs82 million from property tax, property transfer tax, advertisement tax, maps fees, water rates and special development grant. A chunk of Rs25 million has been allocated for staff’s salaries.
A sum of Rs1.2 million has been allocated for health and cleanliness, Rs100,000 for municipal library, Rs700,000 for curbing the menace of fatal diseases, Rs500,000 for women welfare, Rs100,000 for civil defence, Rs50,000 for flood relief, Rs300,000 for advertisement and Rs500,000 for the promotion of sports.
FAISALABAD: : The tehsil council presented and approved a budget of Rs1.056 billion for the city for the fiscal year 2003-04 in just 30 minutes amid rumpus here on Saturday.
An amount of Rs471.9 million has been allocated for non-development expenditure and Rs580 million for development works.
The session was presided over by Naib Nazim Haji Ilyas Ansari and the budget presented by Nazim Mumtaz Ali Cheema.
The Nazim claimed in his speech that the tax-free budget had been prepared in the light of instructions of the government and in consultation with local traders, industrialists and representatives of a cross-section of society.
He further said that a helpline had been established to redress the complaints of citizen on priority basis and a website designed for receiving complaints through e-mail.
The entire TMA record is being computerized for which an amount of Rs500,000 has been allocated initially.
As much as Rs270 million has been earmarked for the renovation of 20 important city roads through the FWO and NLC.
A sum of Rs114.4 million has been allocated for the maintenance of city roads, parks and streetlights on the proposal of members of the TMA.
As much as Rs125 million has been earmarked for the on-going development schemes.
A sum of Rs25 million has been earmarked for providing basic facilities to passengers at the general bus-stand.
The Nazim said that against the agreed grant of Rs568.6 million for the year 2002-03, the Punjab Government had provided only Rs521.2 million. However, for 2003-04, the TMA expected a grant of Rs568.6 million.
He said that Rs49.6 million would be generated through transfer of properties, Rs70 million from property tax, Rs25 million from publicity signboards, Rs11.8 million from various fees and Rs172.2 million by auctioning TMA properties.
After presentation of the budget, Speaker Ilyas Ansari moved for its approval without allowing the members to make proposals or raise objections.
A number of opposition members protested against the ruling group’s bulldozing the budget without allowing a debate on it.
The opposition criticized the budget, saying that the ADP was a fraud as a majority of its projects had already been executed by the city Nazim in a National Assembly constituency where his elder brother had contested the election. Most of the ADP funds had been earmarked for payment against these projects, they maintained.
They announced that they would lodge complaints with the Punjab government and other concerned authorities besides taking the legal course against the “fraudulent” preparation and approval of TMA budget.
NAROWAL: : The Narowal district Nazim presented tax-free surplus budget for the year 2003-04 at a special budget session on Saturday.
The income of the district government has been estimated as Rs1,289.11 million. The Punjab government will provide Rs1,166.66 million as a special development grant, while Rs8 million will be collected through local taxes. A sum of Rs177 million will be spent on 145 uplift schemes.
