MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) budget for the fiscal year 2015-16 is devoid of any tangible austerity measures in the cash-strapped region. However, it does include some other features that people will appreciate.

This was stated by Chaudhry Latif Akbar, the AJK minister for finance, planning and development, at a seminar here on Thursday evening. The seminar was held at the City Campus of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (UAJK) under the aegis of Capital Journalists Forum (CJF) in collaboration with the university’s Kashmir Institute of Economics (KIE).

In his speech and later answering questions, the finance minister said the AJK government was concentrating on improving income resources and “our long and short term policies will make AJK economically self-reliant.” He regretted that people tended to evade taxes even for the civic services, let alone any other major facility. He admitted that the government was not supposed to run businesses but to facilitate and create employment opportunities in the private sector.

He, however, noted that tourism was booming in AJK and the visit of as many as 1.2 domestic tourists during last year was an ample proof of it.

But when asked if he had proposed token austerity measures, the minister said there was not a single head where he could slash allocations for being unnecessary.

He parried comments when his attention was drawn towards the costly luxurious vehicles bought by government officials and superior judiciary members. On other issues, the minister said the government was striving to improve the quality of education but skipped a suggestion regarding the merger of schools with fewer students.

Earlier, Chaudhry Mohammad Saeed, ex-president Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), pointed out areas where the government could generate income merely by improving governance and enforcing austerity. He said there was no proper mechanism for the measurement of GDP and the state was not vigorously pursuing the case for its due share in the federal taxes.

Mr Saeed, who is also secretary finance of opposition PML-N in AJK, called for the dissolution of all those public sector institutions which he said were non-productive and thus a burden on the state exchequer.

The state, he said, should stop boasting of its higher literacy rate and instead focus on improving the quality of education in its educational institutions. He also called for a proper system for the recovery of utility bills.

He said universities should make their studies compatible with the demands of the job market instead of teaching “rotten and redundant subjects.”

Dr Syed Nisar Hussain Hamdani, the director KIE, proposed a seven-point agenda for AJK’s economic development which included setting of economic priorities, indigenous resources-based productive capacity revolving around youth and expatriates, fresh annual surveys for research, planning and development and participatory formulation of 20 years perspective plan. UAJK vice chancellor Prof Dr Syed Dilnawaz Ahmed Gardezi appreciated the initiative of the CJF and said his institution would extend all-out cooperation to all such endeavours in future.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2015

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