KARACHI, June 16: The stage is set for the presentation of over Rs652 billion Sindh budget for the fiscal year 2013-14 with Rs165 billion annual development programme (ADP) in the Sindh Assembly on Monday. It will be a deficit budget of Rs12 billion.
The budget session, which is scheduled to meet at 3pm, will be presided over by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani while Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali will present the budget. The chief minister had said that the budget would be “people friendly and welfare oriented”.
However, the Sindh Revenue Board has suggested changes in the rate of taxes for generation of additional revenue while for government servants an increase in salary is likely to be made between 10 and 15 per cent.
Before giving floor of the house to the chief minister for his budget speech, two newly notified lawmakers of the Sindh Assembly Amir Haider Shirazi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Syed Waqar Hasan of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement will be administered the oath and a panel of four chairpersons will be nominated who will preside over the session in absence of the speaker and the deputy speaker.
The budget speech is likely to have announcements about establishment of a police Shaheed fund with Rs1 billion and a Ramazan package of Rs4 billion.
The government may also announce bringing 1,000 CNG buses on roads, creating over 2,300 new jobs, including over 7,000 recruitments in the police department and developing 28,000 plots for distribution among deserving poor families.
According to sources close to the department concerned, revenue assignment under federal transfers is likely to be over Rs332 billion while straight transfers will be over Rs57 billion, the PSDP will be Rs30 billion, non-development expenditures are likely to be Rs360 billion while capital expenditure will be Rs35 billion.
In the ADP, according to sources, Rs17 billion has been allocated for the health sector schemes, Rs13 billion for education, over Rs8 billion for 168 development schemes of members of provincial assembly, Rs6 billion for agriculture, Rs21 billion for the Thar coal power and energy project, Rs1 billion for culture, Rs1 billion for home department, Rs30 billion for foreign-funded schemes, Rs4 billion for public health engineering.
For special development packages in Karachi, Hyderabad, Benazirabad, Larkana, Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur over Rs7.12 billion is likely to be set aside; for Services and General Administration Rs900 million, the Sindh Assembly over Rs1 billion, tourism Rs590 million, women development Rs430 million, transport Rs300 million and for the minorities Rs720 million.
According to sources, 1,363 ongoing schemes share will be 58 per cent which comes to over Rs69 billion from the ADP while 1,099 new schemes will be initiated from rest of the funds.