In a move to curb unemployment, the Sindh government has allocated huge funds for salaries and other expenditures for creating around 22,000 new vacancies in various departments in the provincial budget for fiscal 2012-13, Business Recorder learnt on Thursday.
Sindh''''s Budget would be tabled in the Sindh Assembly on June 11. Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah would present the province''''s fifth budget. Sources inside the finance department told this correspondent that creating more jobs had been Sindh government''''s "top priority since day one".
The sources said that the finance department had written letters to all provincial administrative departments, seeking details of vacancies to be created in new fiscal year. The Education and Literacy department is learnt to have informed the finance department that they could produce more than 15,000 jobs in FY 2012-13 after the completion of a large number of school and college projects, they told.
As many as 19,000 vacancies for primary, junior and high school teachers, were announced in FY 2011-12 by the education and literacy department. This department, the sources said, could produce more than 15,000 new teaching and non-teaching jobs in FY 2012-13.
Sindh Police has hinted that they could generate more than 3,000 jobs in the new fiscal year, ranging from constables to inspectors in almost all districts of province, they said. Similarly, health department authorities said that they could create more than 3,000 jobs in various hospitals and other institutions in the next fiscal year, they added.
Sources said that Sindh Revenue Board (SRB), local government, social welfare, planning and development (p&d), population welfare, food, works and services, home and other departments could also create more jobs in FY 2012-13. In this connection, a senior official of the finance department, who is familiar with this development, told Business Recorder that all coalition partners of the Sindh government, including the PPP, MQM, ANP, PML-F, PML-Q and NPP had agreed for creating more jobs in the last year''''s budget.
Terming the budget an election-specific one, e said that the parties were in agreement because they could use more jobs as a tool for political point-scoring, garnering people''''s votes in the next general election. Almost all coalition partners, he said, were also in agreement for initiating more development schemes.
Sindh''''s development outlay of Rs 221 billion for FY-2012-13 has already been finalised by the authorities with the allocation of, Rs 161 billion for provincial government schemes, Rs 20 billion for district government projects and Rs 37 billion for foreign-funded (loans/grants) schemes.