Pindi district council approves Rs2.6b budget
While the budgetary measures show that the government is trying to offset the adverse effect of inflation on the poor, they do not indicate any significant remedy for the present financial malaise. Photo: file
The Rawalpindi District Council has approved a surplus budget of over Rs2.6 billion for the fiscal year 2022-23.
In the new budget, presented by Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq, tax on billboards and hoardings has been increased while a total of Rs1.2 billion income target has been set for the next year.
In the budget, a total of Rs470 million have been allocated for non-development expenditures including salaries and utility bills while a total of Rs1.2 billion have been allocated for development schemes for the district.
An amount of Rs10 million have been reserved for civil defence, with the department also receiving one per cent of the budget for its development schemes. Meanwhile, Rs20 million will be spent on sports activities, festivals and fairs, whereas Rs40 million have been earmarked for maintenance and repairs.
According to district council sources, a special grant will be obtained from the provincial government for the Rawalpindi district.
Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi while talking to The Express Tribune said that members of the provincial assembly belonging to the Rawalpindi district will also share their funds worth Rs100 million for development schemes.
He said that funds will be obtained directly from the Punjab government in the annual development programme for the Rawalpindi district council.
The district council presented the budget after a delay of over a month due to none existence of the local government system in the province. Normally, this budget is presented and approved in the last week of June, but this year, the budget was presented with a delay of one month.
In case the new Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government restores its old neighbourhood and village council system, the budget is likely to be presented again.
Under the new local government system, all seven municipal committees of the Rawalpindi district and Municipal Corporation Murree had been merged into District Council Rawalpindi and declared its units.
Employees, vehicles, assets, budget and sources of income of these institutions had been brought under the control of the Rawalpindi District Council.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 8th, 2022.