Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha concludes the debate on budget 2015-16 in Punjab Assembly

Lahore: Provincial Minister for Finance Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha while concluding the debate on annual budget 2015-16 in Punjab Assembly today said that this objection of opposition on budget is unjustified that different departments have utilized lesser amounts than allocated.

She said that in fact Rs. 11.13 billion of different departments have been transferred to district governments which have not been included in development budget. She further said that it is not correct to describe the budget as a document prepared by bureaucracy. She said it is a fact that officers of Finance and Planning Departments worked hard day and night but the present budget is reflective of the vision of leaders of our party and public aspirations.

She said that members were consulted in pre-budget session while opinions of people of different walks of life were sought.

Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said that local bodies have also been referred to in the house a number of times. A total of 269 billion rupees have been allocated for district governments, Tehsil municipal administrations and cantonment boards in the budget of next financial year.

Moreover, an amount of Rs. 12 billion has been allocated separately for development schemes of local governments while constitution of Provincial Financial Commission and awards are also among our priorities.

The Finance Minister said that more than 81 percent funds have been spent under the head of development budget till May 31^st during current financial year while 77.54 development budget was spent till May 31^st during financial year 2013-14 which had become 92 percent by June 2014. Keeping in view this trend it is clear that more than 90 percent of development budget will be spent till June 2015. She said that Agriculture department has utilized up to 93 percent funds, Education (Schools) 93.37 percent, Higher Education 87 percent, Special Education 100 percent and Literacy Department has utilized funds up to 92 percent.

Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said that outdoor of Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology has been made operational since December 2014 while necessary vacancies have also been approved for emergency and running of inpatient ward and process of recruitment for the vacancies is continuing.

She said that process of purchase of necessary machinery has been completed and the received machinery has been installed. She said that revised PC-I of Surgical Tour of Mayo Hospital has been approved and funds of Rs. 30 crore have been allocated in the present budget for its completion. She said that the basic reason in delay of this project was presence of faults which have been removed.

Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said we are proud that all our projects are transparent and free of corruption. She said that Punjab government was not involved in any financial scandal during previous years and we can proud of speed and transparency of our projects.