Lahore:
On Thursday, the Punjab Assembly approved 36 out of 41 requirements for reimbursement worth RS3.667.71 billion to different departments where they rejected all cut movements made by the opposition.
The cut movements that tried to reduce budget distributions due to alleged incorrect management and poor results, targeted key departments such as police, education, health, agriculture and public health. However, Treasury benches dismissed them by majority.
The grants were part of the total budget of RS4,306 billion for the financial year 2025-26.
A day earlier, on June 25, the assembly had passed five of the requirements of RS638.29 billion.
The presentation of grants followed the end of a five-day general discussion about the budget, led by the provincial Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.
Among the approved grants was RS1,036.96 billion for various expenses that drew special criticism from the opposition’s lawmakers. Sheikh Imtiaz, a member of the opposition, claimed that this amount amounted to 20% of the total budget and questioned the lack of transparency around the institutions covered by this category. In response, Finance Minister Rehman clarified that this amount included allocations for various authorities, the salary and pension fund (PF), as well as initiatives related to women’s development, Baitul Mål and Zakat and Ushr. The assembly also approved RS125.23 billion for general administration and RS9.54 billion for housing and physical planning, despite similar objections raised by the opposition in terms of lack of clarity and alleged overlaps with other departments. With the opposition’s degrading movements exhausted, the remaining grants were presented and adopted through voting.
These included awards of over Rs.462 billion for pensions, more than Rs.910 billion for development projects, RS200.10 billion for the police department, RS258.97 billion for healthcare, RS137.53 billion for education, RS26.53 billion for agriculture and RS15.16 billion. Several other departments, including those related to justice, prisons, museums and infrastructure, also received significant funding through approved requirements.
