Jamaat-e-Islami rejects Sindh Budget 2024-25

KARACHI: Following the proposal of budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) expressed strong disapproval of the Sindh government’s budget 2024-25, ARY News reported on Friday.

Mohammad Farooq, the Parliamentary Leader of Jamaat-e-Islami in the Sindh Assembly, highlighted several key issues and demanded justice for the people of Karachi.

Farooq criticized the budget for providing tax waivers to agriculture, specifically benefiting large landowners. He emphasized that this policy favors the wealthy elite at the expense of broader economic equity.

The JI leader argued that instead of waiving taxes for big landowners, the tax tariffs should be increased for holdings between 100 to 1000 acres. This, he suggested, would ensure a fairer distribution of the tax burden and contribute more effectively to provincial revenues.

A major point of contention for JI is the alleged neglect of Karachi in the budget.

Farooq highlighted that there is “nothing for Karachi” in the financial plan, underscoring the city’s critical needs and the absence of adequate funding to address them.

He demanded a substantial allocation of 500 billion PKR specifically for the development of Karachi, asserting that the city’s infrastructure and public services require significant investment.

Earlier in the day, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who also holds the portfolio of Finance Minister, presented a Rs3.056 trillion budget for the next fiscal year 2024-25, proposing a massive hike of 22 to 30 pc in salaries and a significantly higher development expense of Rs959 billion.

Addressing the budget session of the Sindh Assembly, CM Murad Ali Shah said that the total outlay of the budget for the province is estimated at Rs3.056 trillion.

Presenting the budget 2024-25, the chief minister announced a salary hike of 30pc for the Sindh government employees between grades 1 and 16 and 22pc for the employees between grades 17 and 22.

Murad Ali Shah also proposed a 15% increase in pensions and the minimum wage from Rs35,550 to Rs37,000.