15% raise: In TM Khan too, budget eaten up by salaries

Rs1m set aside for scholarships.

HYDERABAD:

A tax-free, surplus budget of Rs2.01 billion was approved for Tando Muhammad Khan district at a ceremony on Monday.

District Administrator Barkat Ahmed Rizvi presented the budget which allocates exactly half of the finances for the payment of salaries to the district government employees.

The administrator also announced a 15 per cent raise in salaries of government employees and a one-year job extension for contract employees.

The district has set aside Rs180 million for non-development expenditure, Rs200 million for ongoing development schemes, Rs54 million for repairs and maintenance work and Rs60 million for Citizen Community Boards. However, the outlay for new development projects has not been announced. For the city’s beautification, education reforms and medicines, Rs72.3 million, Rs61 million and Rs30 million have been earmarked, respectively. The budget has Rs1 million for the press club and the same amount for student scholarships.

In the next fiscal year, Tando Mohammad Khan will spend Rs5 million on preserving its forests and Rs7.8 million on the registration of national identity cards.

Rizvi said spending on development will be increased by 75 per cent in the budget. He appreciated the performance of the Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) programme which will get Rs48.5 million this year.

“A 50% enhancement has also been made in the allocations for disaster management in comparison to last year,” he said. A sum of Rs10 million has been allocated.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2011.