MULTAN, June 27: The district government on Friday approved a surplus budget of Rs2.17 billion for the fiscal year 2003-04.
Revenue collection under various heads has been estimated as Rs2.17 billion, while total budget outlay is Rs2.12 billion. Thus a surplus income of Rs49.23 million is likely at the end of the fiscal.
Acting district Nazim and district coordination officer Azam Suleman presented the budget at a council meeting presided over by Naib Nazim Malik Amer Dogar.
Besides a carryover income of Rs223.181 million from the financial year 2002-03, Rs1.888 billion under various provincial grants and Rs58.795 million expected collection under the head of local fund taxes are the main income resources for the district government.
The district government has also sent a proposal to levy licence fee on various business categories to the provincial government for approval, and an additional income of Rs30 million will be earned through this tax. However, the expected income under this head has not been included in the fiscal statement.
On the expenditure front, Rs113.081 million will be spent on salaries of district council employees, Rs48.814 million on other expenses of the council, Rs1.355 billion on the salaries of provincial government department employees, Rs151.481 million on other expenses of these departments and Rs482.158 million on development schemes.
Of the development allocations, Rs90.968 million will be spent on education, Rs48 million on health and Rs61.8 million on agriculture. In the education sector, the allocated funds will be spent to provide buildings to 32 schools, boundary walls to 46 girls schools, toilets to 59 schools, furniture to 87 schools, drinking water facility to 50 schools besides setting up science laboratories in 47 schools.
In the health sector, Rs10 million have been allocated to construct the Jalalpur Pirwala tehsil headquarters hospital, Rs0.5 million for upgradation of the civil hospital and Rs30 million to set up 10 new basic health units in the district.
The district government has allocated Rs20 million to set up a home economics college in Multan city. However, the project will be completed jointly by the provincial and district governments.
Besides, Rs1 million have been allocated for population welfare, Rs5 million for a special education school in Jalalpur Pirwala tehsil and Rs5 million for the building of the Multan public library.
An amount of Rs10 million will be spent on cementing water channels, Rs6.5 million on livestock and Rs5 million to purchase laser equipment for land-levelling. Wapda will be given Rs35 million for village electrification. Each of the four tehsil councils in the district will be provided a matching grant of Rs2.5 million and each of the 126 union councils Rs0.2 million.
As many as Rs10 million have been allocated for women councillors, Rs3 million for labour and peasant councillors, Rs2.5 million for councillors elected on minority seats and Rs92.675 million for citizen community boards. A grant of Rs5 million has also been allocated for gas supply to Shah Rukn-i-Alam Colony.
Later on, the house approved the budget.
FAISALABAD: The District Assembly approved unanimously the annual budget of Rs4.21 billion for the year 2003-2004 here on Thursday.
The District Assembly Session was presided over by Convener B.K. Tabish.
Presenting the budget, District Nazim Zahid Nazir said that District Assembly members had always extended their maximum cooperation to the welfare of the people.
He said that despite limited resources, an increase of Rs1 billion had been made in the annual budget. The schemes forwarded by some of the members could not be included in the budget on account of some clerical or official mistakes.
The district Nazim assured the House that in the light of proposals of these members, all mistakes would be removed and these uplift schemes would be presented in the House during the next session. For all such schemes, he said an amount of Rs30 million had been earmarked.
In addition to the grant of Rs200 million announced by the prime minister, he said the provision of development funds from the provincial government was also expected soon.
He said that schemes worth Rs10 million had also been proposed for improving the performance of monitoring committees and different departments in the district with the financial help of the Asian Development Bank. The Punjab government had also earmarked Rs2 million for the construction of a bridge on the railway track, Jhal Khanuana.
It may be mentioned that the annual budget envisaging a total expenditure of Rs4.2 billion had been presented before the House on Tuesday last.
The District Assembly approved the budget after the heated debate of last two days. For the first time, a huge amount of Rs918.023 million has been allocated for the development projects. The present budget is about Rs1 billion more than the last year.
The district Nazim said that Rs3.3 billion would be spent on the salaries of district government employees as well as other miscellaneous expenditures. At least Rs156.262 million had been earmarked for the provision of drinking water and sewerage facilities in rural areas which was 25 per cent more as compared to the last year.
He said around Rs110 million had been allocated for the construction of roads in urban areas and Rs89.723 million had been earmarked for the construction of roads, bridges and farm-to-market roads in rural areas. As many as Rs56.513 million had been set aside for the education sector, Rs13.666 million for health facilities, Rs33.536 million for sewerage schemes in urban areas, Rs48.457 million for the provision of drinking water and sewerage, Rs22.866 million for the provision of electricity, Rs4.669 million for the provision of gas facility, he said.
Similarly, Rs4.118 million had been allocated for literacy, Rs12 million for the completion of incomplete schemes, Rs1.708 million for government office buildings, Rs43 million for the promotion of livestock, Rs2.400 million for sports and Rs31.970 million for miscellaneous projects, he added.
SARGODHA: The district government presented its annual budget of Rs2.2 billion for the financial year 2003-04 here on Friday.
Out of this total amount, at least Rs1.9 billion have been allocated for non-development expenditures while Rs238 million for development projects.
The budget meeting was chaired by a senior member of the District Assembly, Mehr Muhammad Khan Koot, while District Nazim Malik Amjad Ali Noon presented the budget.
The District Nazim said that out of total non-development expenditures, a sum of Rs1,300 million had been allocated for Education, Rs327 million for Health, Rs38 million for Agriculture, Rs26.6 million for Land Revenueand Rs37.5 million for Communication.
He said the district government would provide Rs2 million for informal education and a sizable amount would also be incurred on the construction of boundary walls and expansion of educational institutions besides purchasing instruments for blind students. Similarly, he said Rs1.2 million would also be spent on the expansion and repair of school buildings of disable children.
In addition, he said that Rs53 million had been earmarked for the purchase of medicines and equipping 25 basic health units with modern facilities. At least Rs16.50 million had been allocated for providing health care to women, mothers and babies.
As many as Rs8.8 million had been earmarked for carrying out 45 water management schemes while 4,500 acres of state land would also be levelled for cultivation, he said.
Similarly, the District Nazim said that a fish farm would be set up with an amount of Rs0.53 million while Rs18.25 million would be spent on the artificial insemination of animals. Besides, an amount of Rs23.4 million would be spent on the proposed projects of members of the district council.
The district government has also proposed taxes of Rs55 million to enhance its budgetary position.
BAHAWALPUR: The district council has approved a balanced tax-free budget of Rs2.03 billion for the next financial year.
However, Leader of the Opposition Safdar Shehbaz Rajput and four other opposition members walked out of the meeting to protest the “undemocratic attitude” of district Nazim Tariq Cheema and Convener Sahibzada Umar Daud Abbasi.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Rajput alleged that the convener and Nazim did not allow him to raise objections on the budget and make proposals.
He praised the district government system but alleged that the Bahawalpur Nazim was out to make it a failure. He appealed to the president and NRB chief to take disciplinary action against the Nazim, who was out to harm the system. He demanded a system in which the corp commander or GOC would keep a check on district Nazim.
Replying to a question, the opposition leader said the budget draft was a bundle of lies. He said that opposition members numbered about 25 in the house of 107 but had not been provided development funds for their areas.
He further claimed that the details of 160 uplift schemes included in the budget were not provided to the opposition despite their demand.
GUJRANWALA: The City Tehsil Council presented a tax-free budget of Rs327.1 million for the fiscal year 2003-04 here on Friday.
The budget meeting was presided over by City Naib Nazim Ehsanullah Chaudhry while Nazim Babu Javed Ahmad presented the budget.
The City Nazim said that Rs153.27 million were allocated for the development schemes while Rs140 million would be spent on the salaries of the staff.
Giving details of development schemes, he said that Rs53.93 million had been allocated for the construction of streets and drains, Rs8 million for the construction and repair of city roads, Rs1.97 million for the streetlight and Rs393,000 for sports and repair of stadium.
At least Rs1.13 million had been earmarked for fire brigade, Rs1.78 million for the renovation and construction of recreational parks, Rs1.72 million for the construction of boundary walls of graveyards, Rs7 million for a model hospital, Rs14.6 million for the community centre board, Rs.3 million for the construction of the slaughter house and Rs10 million for the purchase of new machinery.
He said that major sources of income would be including, annual taxes of Rs50 million, government grants of Rs178 million and collection of rent of municipality buildings of Rs6 million.
TOBA TEK SINGH: The Tehsil Municipal Administration on Friday approved a surplus budget of Rs89 million for the financial year 2003-2004.
Presenting the budget in the House, Tehsil Nazim Muhammad Rafiq said that expenditures of Rs88.511 million were expected during the year while the TMA anticipated an income of Rs89 million.
Under the directions of the Punjab government, he said the Tehsil Council would allocate 25 per cent amount of its total budget for Citizen Community Boards.
During the previous year, he said the Punjab governor had provided a special grant of Rs10 million to the TMA for laying pipelines for the water supply.
The Tehsil Nazim said that the TMA had also received Rs39 million last year under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme.