LAHORE:
The Punjab government, in its budget for 2012-13, has given top priority to provision of subsidy on food and seems less focused on promotion of industries to create more employment opportunities despite the fact that 330,000 people have lost their jobs due to closure of industries in the outgoing financial year, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Allocation of a huge amount of Rs27.5 billion for subsidising food was aimed at winning votes of the poor segment of society in next elections, which are due in the first half of 2013, an official remarked.
While presenting the budget earlier this month, the Punjab government unveiled the biggest ever Annual Development Plan (ADP) with a total outlay of Rs250 billion for financial year 2012-13 compared to allocation of Rs220 billion a year earlier.
Contrary to the provincial government’s claim that it is working to promote job-creating industries to address the unemployment problem, it has earmarked only Rs4.9 billion for investment in public and private companies.
Earlier, the Industries, Commerce and Investment Department proposed establishment of five industrial parks, each on 500 acres of land or more, in the province. It identified five districts – Rawalpindi, Mianwali, Wazirabad, Pind Daden Khan and Sahiwal – for the purpose and sought Rs5.21 billion for financial year 2012-13.
Out of the five industrial parks, the government has promised Rs1 billion for two parks – Rawalpindi and Pind Daden Khan.
The industrial allocation of Rs4.9 billion will be provided to six companies. These include the Punjab Industrial Estates, Faisalabad Industrial Estates, Punjab Land Development Company, Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Board, Punjab Agriculture Marketing Company and Lahore Meat Company.
On the other hand, the Punjab government in its ‘White Paper on the Budget Book’ estimated that over 330,000 people had lost their jobs in the province because of power and gas outages, leading to a loss of about a billion dollars in exports. More than 1,300 small and medium-sized industrial units have been forced to shut down because of the energy crisis.
“Definitely, elections are near and the government is in urgent need of providing short-term relief to the people to increase its vote bank,” said an official requesting anonymity.
Besides the provincial government, the central government is doing its part in providing temporary relief to the people instead of giving a permanent solution to poverty. It has enhanced allocation to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) from Rs50 billion to Rs70 billion.
“Both the Punjab and central governments have not allocated funds for resolving the longstanding issue of unemployment and focus on providing temporary relief only,” the official remarked.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2012.
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I am not a PMLN supporter by any means. However, I wonder if it was done out of good intention knowing that since energy crisis is not solvable by provincial governments as such, they are just focused on providing direct relief rather than solving the problem indirectly through employment.