Lahore:
The Punjab assembly approved Thursday 36 of the 41 requests for subsidies worth RS3 667.71 billion for various departments, rejecting all the reduction requests presented by the opposition.
Discount requests, which sought to reduce budgetary allowances for reasons of poor management and poor performance, targeted key departments such as police, education, health, agriculture and public health. However, the Treasury benches rejected them by majority vote.
The subsidies were part of the total of RS4,306 billion budget for the year 2025-26.
One day earlier, on June 25, the Assembly responded to five of RS638.29 billion requests.
The presentation of the subsidies followed the conclusion of a general discussion of five days on the budget, led by the Minister of Provincial Finance Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.
Among the approved subsidies were 1,036.96 billion rupees for various expenses, which aroused special criticism from the opposition legislators. Sheikh Imtiaz, a member of the opposition, argued that this amount represented 20% of the total budget and questioned the lack of transparency on the institutions covered by this category. In response, the Minister of Finance, Rehman, said that this amount included allowances for various authorities, the remuneration and pension fund (PF), as well as initiatives related to the development of women, Baitul Maal and Zakat and Ushr. The Assembly also approved RS125.23 billion for general administration and 9.54 billion rupees for housing and physical planning, despite similar objections raised by the opposition concerning the lack of clarity and alleged overlaps with other departments. The movements cut off from the exhausted opposition, the remaining subsidies were presented and passed by the vote.
These included allocations of more than RS. 462 billion for pensions, more than RS.910 billion for development projects, 200.10 billion rupees for the police service, RS258,97 billion for health services, RS137.53 billion for education, RS26.53 billion for agriculture and 15 billion rupees for public health. Several other departments, including those related to justice, prisons, museums and infrastructure, have also received substantial funding thanks to approved requests.
