The District Council, Lahore, in its meeting here on Saturday, unanimously approved Rs 5,861.132 million budget with a surplus of Rs 15.290 million for the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) for fiscal 2004-05.
An amount of Rs 870.871 million has been allocated for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) against an allocation of Rs 893.105 million for 2003-2004 in addition to Rs 1464.342 million that were received as an interim aid from different sources.
Out of ADP allocation, Rs 524.814 million has been made available for new schemes, while Rs 346.057 will be spent on ongoing schemes in the district Lahore.
According to the budget documents, an amount of Rs 5876.422 has been shown CDGL income for 2004-05 out of which, Rs 3678.393 million will be received from the Punjab government and through other grants. A fund of Rs 4990.261 million has been made available for meeting non-developmental expenditures.
Under the ADP, Rs 7.075 million has been made available for the agriculture sector, Rs 6.352 million for roads/streets, Rs 60.557 million for education and training, Rs 13.579 million for health, Rs 4.850 million for social welfare, Rs 2 million for general buildings, Rs 4 million for transport, Rs 7 million for solid waste management, Rs 30 million for development of rural areas, and Rs 351.954 million has been set aside for citizen community boards. Apart from this, Rs 7 million has been specified as block allocation for execution of previous schemes.
Addressing the budget session, District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood said the city district government and its subsidiary organisations are expecting income of Rs 13,927.915 million in fiscal 2004-05 against expenditures of Rs 12,214.763 million, thus leaving a surplus of Rs 1,713.152 million.
Highlighting achievements made in fiscal 2003-04, he said the CDGL has been able to collect maximum revenue, as Rs 1,553.29 million and Rs 123.56 million has been recovered under the heads of stamp duty and registration fee, respectively.
Without increasing rates of different taxes/fees, the government income has been increased by Rs 2.25 billion during the last two years, which is a record, he said, adding the revenue record is being computerised with the financial assistance of provincial government.
Mian Amer Mahmood said for the education sector, Rs 165.014 million was allocated during fiscal 2003-04, adding the measures including recruitment of teachers on merit, promotion of curriculum, cash prizes to teachers, students, setting up of model education centres, launching of English medium school, preparation of academic calendar, and computer training of 3,000 teachers reflect that the CDGL were making dedicated efforts for promotion of education.
During the same year, the number of students has been increased to 31,556 in 1,367 schools. As many as 415 new classrooms were constructed in 167 different schools, while furniture was also provided to 269 schools, he added.
At present, there is a shortfall of 2,000 teachers in the district, and a request has been made for the creation of 1,946 posts of teachers. The strength of adopted schools increased from 134 to 350, while 182 schools were merged, he said.
The District Nazim said the CDGL provided machinery and other equipment amounting to Rs 34 million. Equipment worth Rs 1.551 million were purchased for the Munshi Hospital, while Rs 6.762 million was provided for emergency block of the Munshi block, he added.
A piece of land measuring 33-kanal has been arranged for the Mian Meer Hospital, while 91-kanal land of the Kot Khawaja Saeed Hospital has been retrieved from land grabbers, he said.
Mian Amer said that Rs 1333.200 million was spent on development works in the city, while Rs 525.400 million and Rs 305 million was paid to the National Logistic Cell and the Frontier Works Organisation, respectively.
An amount of Rs 231.651 million was spent on construction and repair of roads and streets, and Rs 9.536 million was spent on different 15 electrical and mechanical schemes. Similarly, Rs 198.787 million was spent on 205 educational schemes, Rs 12.977 million on 187 schemes for the uplift of healthcare facilities. The CDGL also spent Rs 2.266 million on social welfare schemes, Rs 22.097 million on 7 transport schemes and Rs 7.399 million on solid waste management schemes, said District Nazim.
He said to provide conducive environment for investment, uplift of social welfare of citizens, the CDGL had allocated Rs 351,954 million, while Rs 50 million has been spent on campaign launched for creation of awareness about the community development programme.
In view of importance of agriculture sector, the CDGL had allocated Rs 7.075 million for fiscal 2003-04, while 17,700 farmers were imparted training courses on modern agriculture. An amount of Rs 17.52 million was spent on improvement in water channels.
The District Nazim said the CDGL has procured modern machinery worth Rs 169.7 million for lifting of solid waste to improve sanitation condition in the city. As many as 10 wireless control rooms were set up in different parts of the city so that problems relating to solid waste could be redressed, he added.
Under the head of sanitation fee, the CDGL received an income of Rs 150 million through Wasa bills. The city government also spent Rs 50 million on land procurement for scientific disposal, and paid Rs 0.795 million to Nespak as consultancy fee for construction of composting plant at Mahmood Booti, he said.
Opposition Leader Naveed Sadiq raised objection on approving the budget on the same day, saying that members are unable to study budget document thoroughly.
He said the house should be given at least two days for debate on budget. Criticising ADP allocation, he said only 14.80 percent allocation was made for ADP in the budget while 85.20 percent amount was made available for non-development expenditure.
However, some of opposition members, who were not allowed to participate in the debate, walked out from the budget meeting.
Later, the house unanimously approved the budget through show of hands.
Meanwhile, District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood addressed the post-budget press conference.