ISLAMABAD, June 21: The federal cabinet, which met here on Monday, finalized its strategy to handle the upcoming first reading of the fiscal 2004-05 budget, official sources told Dawn.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali later told the electronic media that he had promised in the last cabinet meeting to hold a special cabinet meeting at the start of first reading of the budget to effectively meet the target of passing the money bill as presented by the finance minister.

He said that federal ministers and ministers of state "have been assigned duty" to ensure maximum attendance of coalition party members during the passage of money bill. Ministers belonging to various parts of the country "have been given the task" on divisional levels to stay in touch with lawmakers to ensure their presence in parliament during the vote.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Dawn that the cabinet had discussed the budgetary proposals for incorporation in the budget that had come from the Senate, and deferred any decision till the proposals were presented in the National Assembly.