Punjab to get social sector-focused budget: finance minister

LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bukht on Thursday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would come up with a  social sector-focused budget revolving around health, education, clean drinking water and green Pakistan, ARY News reported.

Addressing a pre-budget seminar organized by Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA), the minister said thatt the Punjab government was revisiting the health insurance scheme as out of two million insurance holders only 40,000 were benefited while the government had paid full premium.

Furthermore, number of companies was made but not a single drop of clean drinking water was produced instead concrete network spread in the cities which also affected the ground water as well.

He maintained that PTI aims to reduce the tax burden on the people and make Punjab a self-sufficient province by mobilization of revenue through progressive economic growth.

“The government wants to facilitate the compliant tax payers by simplifying taxpaying methods by introducing business model where the public does not need to visit government offices and get their rights at their door step,”said the provincial finance minister.

The minister stressed upon increasing reliance on provincial indigenous resources instead of federal divisible pool.

He maintained that dependence on federal divisible pool affects the planning and executions of the projects. He insisted on a collective budget policy making and said that the government will continue such seminars with the stakeholders in the future policy making.