Punjab Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman presented the province’s budget for 2024–25 at an assembly session presided over by Speaker Malik Ahmed Muhammad Khan. There was an hour and forty-eight minutes of delay before the session began.
Journalists’ groups, who had gathered at the Punjab legislature to cover the budget session, protested against the Defamation Act that had been enacted by the provincial legislature and signed into law by the PML-N government.
The annual allocation of Rs 5,446 billion includes a surplus of Rs 630 billion and Rs842 billion set aside for development expenditures.
He brought up the actions made by the current provincial administration to begin his budget address. “It will be the current government’s first tax-free budget.”
According to the minister, the Chief Minister Roshan Gharana Programme, worth Rs9.5 billion, will help residents of the province who are struggling with excessive electricity costs. He stated that the province administration, led by the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), was giving out free solar systems to anyone who used up to 100 electrical units during the first phase. He also said that the installation costs will be covered by the government.
Important points from Budget:
- Total 77 new megaprojects are approved in the annually development plan.
- An increase in fiscal source revenue of 53% without an increase in taxes.
- A record Rs842 billion set aside for spending on development.
- A rise in the minimum pay to Rs. 37,000 from Rs. 32,000.
- 15% rise in pensions and a 20–25% increase in salary.
- A record-breaking one billion rupee boost for the Minority Development Fund.
- 26 billion rupees are set aside for the purchase of farming tools, 10 billion for the Kisan Card, and 30 billion for the CM Green Tractor Program.
- The cattle card and the Himmat and Nighaban cards cost two billion rupees apiece.
- 26 billion rupees have been approved for the reorganization of education.
To assist people in owning a home, the Punjab Finance Minister said that Rs. 10 billion had been set aside for the Apni Chat Apna Ghar Scheme.
Declaring that the Kissan Dost Package was “the biggest in the country’s history,” the minister revealed that the province administration was proposing it. Interest-free loans of Rs75 billion to 500,000 farmers in the province are part of the plan.
The provincial administration will invest Rs9 billion to solarize 7,000 tube-wells in the province, according to Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman’s address.
The Chief ministry Green Tractor Programme, according to the ministry, has been given Rs 30 billion, which would allow farmers in the province to purchase tractors with interest-free loans and convenient installment plans.
The Minister said that the Chief Minister District Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Programme will get an allocation of Rs 80 billion to assess the development requirements at the district level.
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He said that up to 2,380 km of new and repaired roads would be built throughout the province with an allocation of Rs296 billion.
The Punjab government has approved 25 percent increase in provincial employees salaries. The provincial government has also approved 15% increase in pensions of retired government employees.
The proposed allocations of funds are as follows: Rs 3 billion for the establishment of Garment City; Rs 7 billion for the provision of playgrounds in each constituency; Rs 10 billion for the Laptop Scheme; Rs 1 billion for daycare centers; Rs 2 billion for the Himat Card Scheme for the disabled; Rs 1 billion for the development of transgender skills; Rs 2.5 billion for the minority development fund; Rs 56 billion for the establishment of the Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer Treatment in Lahore; Rs 8.84 billion for the Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cardiology in Sargodha; Rs 450 million for air ambulance; and Rs 1 billion for clinic on wheels.
A maximum of Rs10 billion has been set aside for the Climate Resilient Fund, Rs8 billion for the Plant for Pakistan project, Rs49 billion for the introduction of eco-friendly bus services in five major cities, Rs3.8 billion for the Smart Safe City initiative, and Rs10 billion for the Murree Development Program.
