PESHAWAR
Provincial Finance Minister Taimur Salim Jhagra Monday informed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly the provincial government would release 100 percent development funds to all sectors by July 1 to ensure record development during the fiscal year 2021-22.
Winding up the supplementary budget debate, he said KP province is ahead of all other provinces in the social sector and vowed that during fiscal year 2021-22 the province would witness record development.
He said there were a total 64 grants in the supplementary budget, adding that the original budget was estimated at Rs 923 billion while the revised budget reached Rs927 billion, similarly, the projected revenue was Rs 716 billion but expenditure reached up to Rs 730 billion.
He explained that the supplementary budget was not an excess budget, rather the government cut the budget of some departments due to corona pandemic while some departments including education, relief, tourism and others demanded supplementary budget.
He said the present government was working more on budgeting reforms, adding that the government revived the cut in elementary education sector while the police budget was increased by Rs 6 billion in Malakand due to regularization and pensions of levies personnel.
Minister Finance said that in order to improve the finance, the government is working on different acts, adding that last year the government achieved Rs 53 billion target which has now set Rs 75 billion for the fiscal year 2021-22. Regarding pensions, he said it was a big challenge not only for KP but for the whole country but the province is tackling the issue in a good manner.
Earlier, the opposition lawmakers Inayatullah Khan of Jamaat-i-Islami, Aurengzeb Nalota, Ikhtiar Wali, Sardar Khan and Sobia Shahid of PMLN, Naeema Kishwar, Rehana Ismail and Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel of JUIF, Ahmad Kundi and Nighat Orakzai of PPP expressed reservations over the supplementary budget.
They criticized that the provincial government did not allocate amount for the welfare of people in the budget.
Leader of Opposition Akram Khan Durrani criticized the government over the BRT project and pointed out loopholes and corruption in the project.
Shaukat Yousafzai rejected the objections of the opposition leader and said the government is ready to debate on the project, adding that Peshawar BRT project was much better than Metro services in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan.
Speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ghani assured the opposition leader that the treasury would brief the members of the House on BRT on July 1.
Later the proceedings of the House were adjourned to meet again on Tuesday at 1300 hours.
