LAHORE: The provincial cabinet, in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, on Monday approved the Punjab budget 2022-23 along with the Annual Development Programme (ADP).

The cabinet also approved the financial bill for financial year 2022-23, as well as a supplementary budget, and revised estimates for the financial year 2021-22. The cabinet approved an increase in the salaries and pensions of government employees. Payment of a 15 percent special allowance was approved along with the endorsement of the MoU for providing free medicines to cancer patients.

Addressing the meeting, CM Hamza Shehbaz appreciated that the ministers, chairman P&D, finance secretary and concerned officials worked hard to draft the prudential document. The budget proposes measures to provide meaningful relief to the people, he argued and added that the budget has been designed in consultation with the political and administrative members of the team as he believes in consultation.

The decisions of the first cabinet meeting were also endorsed by the participants. The ministers, chief secretary and secretaries of relevant departments attended the meeting.

Earlier, the CM while addressing the provincial parliamentary party meeting said, “No doubt, we are confronting challenges but by the grace of Allah Almighty we will convert the challenges into opportunities and will create ease and comfort for the common man. I myself go to the field in order to redress the grievances of the common man. We will provide maximum relief to the distressed people owing to economic conditions. We have proposed steps to provide relief to the poor segment of society in the coming budget”.

Hamza stated, “I am hopeful that we will overcome the crisis soon and the economy will soon come on the track. We are having majority in the Assembly and the coming budget will be approved”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022