LAHORE: The Punjab government has earmarked Rs190bn for the financial year 2024-25 for the provincial police, diverting Rs126bn, a major chunk of the budget, to the district police.

The last year’s budget for the Punjab Police was Rs165bn, which meant a significant increase for the new financial year.

Of the total budget, the government has allocated Rs7bn for the Special Branch, Rs7.6bn for the Counter Terrorism Department, Rs6bn for the Special Protection Unit and Rs3bn for the Punjab Safe City Authority. It has proposed Rs9.7bn for the Punjab Highways Patrol, Rs981m for the Elite Force, Rs930m for the Border Military Police (DG Khan), Rs192m for the Border Military Police Rajanpur and Rs325m for the Baloch Levy DG Khan.

In recent times in Punjab, the financial crime has increased manifold as the people have started using the modern technologies to make the transactions online. As the economic crime covered a wide range of offenses, from financial crimes committed by banks, tax evasion, illicit capital heavens etc, the complaints of fraud also surfaced in a large number, particularly in Punjab.

Following the situation, the government allocated Rs2.9bn for the economic crime investigation.

Similarly, it has earmarked Rs2.7bn for the Anti-Corruption Establishment, Rs4.2bn for the police training institutes and proposed a hefty budget of Rs8.6bn for the other civil armed forces. A Rs8.6bn budget has been proposed to run the affairs of the Punjab Constabulary. The government has also earmarked Rs203m for the Qaumi Razakar Organisation and Rs1bn for the Civil Defence.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2024