K-P govt postpones budget session

CM Mahmood directs finance secretary to cancel session, reason unclear

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government postponed the provincial assembly's budget session on Wednesday. The session was scheduled for October 11.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan directed the K-P finance secretary to cancel the session. The reason for postponement remained unclear. The budget session will likely be called on October 15.

Meanwhile, the finance department claimed the budget was awaiting cabinet approval before presentation in the house.

It is pertinent to note that the caretaker provincial setup had already approved Rs198.7 billion-worth four-month budget for the fiscal year 2018-19. The current government will be passing a budget for the remaining year.



While the budget includes a Rs53.1 billion allocation for development expenses, none of that money will be spent on new schemes. A further Rs145.8 billion will be spent on non-development expenditures.

Providing a breakdown of the budget, the interim setup had said that it included a Rs630 million allocation for the education sector, Rs230 million for the developmental of the health sector, Rs59 million for computerising land records of the revenue department, Rs350 million for setting up drinking water supply schemes, Rs53 million for the police department, Rs200 million for industries, Rs339 billion for building roads, Rs480 million for the Billion Tree Tsunami project, Rs121 million for the Peshawar Zoo, Rs83 million for tourism and Rs200 million for other developmental schemes in Peshawar.