LAHORE, Pakistan: The Punjab government on Friday announced an increase of 10 percent in salaries of government employees with as much increase for pensioners in the budget 2017-18.
In the budget speech, the Finance Minister Ayesha Ghous Pasha during the Punjab Assembly session in Lahore on Friday said that 10 percent increase in salaries and pensions had been proposed.
The increase would more benefit the government employees from PBS-1 to PBS-15.
Rs 190 million allocated for Auqaf, Religious Affairs
In addition, the Punjab government allocated Rs 190 million for Auqaf and Religious Affairs in the budget.
An amount of Rs 178.213 million will be spent on ongoing schemes and Rs 11.787 million has been allocated for a new scheme named Quran Mahal for Shaheed Quranic Papers, at divisional level in the province.
Rs 15.05 billion set aside for commerce & investment
Likewise, the provincial government allocated Rs 15.05 billion for industries, commerce and investment sector which also include an allocation of Rs 2 billion for Chief Minister’ Employment Scheme for fiscal year 2017-18.
Rs 4 billion would be spent on PIEDMC, Rs 3 billion on the SME Credit scheme, and Rs 4.6 billion for skills development sector.
Special focus will remain on the establishment of new industries, E-Portal for business registration, development of Quaid-e-Azam Development Park, imparting skill to 645,000 individuals under the Punjab Skills Development Programme by TEVTA, PVTC, PSDF etc.
Rs 160.501 million allocated for Punjab museums
Under the budget 2017-18, the Punjab government also allocated an amount of Rs 160.50 million for the Punjab museums.
According to the budget documents, Rs 30.508 million has been allocated for Bahawalpur Museum, Rs 125.993 million for Lahore Museum, Rs 4 million for Layllpur Museum, Faisalabad.
Also Rs 88.163 million will be spent on salaries of the employees, whereas remaining amount of Rs 72.338 million has been reserved for non-salary expenditures.
