Ameerul Azim terms Punjab’s budget official, traditional, disappointing

LAHORE, June 20 (SABAH): Secretary General Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Ameerul Azim has termed the Punjab’s budget official, traditional and disappointing wherein welfare of the masses has been ignored.

In a statement issued from Mansoorah on Tuesday, Secretary General Jamaat-e-Islami Ameerul Azim noted that in the deficit budget of Rs 205 billion for the period of four months, funds allocated for the developments projects have not been specified that on which projects these would be consumed.

He further expressed his concerns that the funds would be used on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) proposed projects which falls under the category of pre-poll rigging. He added although salaries of government employees were increased but pensioners were ignored, saying no measure other than giving relief to the government employees was taken whereas common citizens, particularly people below the poverty line were waiting for the decline in inflation but federal and provincial budgets will further exacerbate the inflation situation in the country. He said that tax burden on the poor masses has been further increased.

Ameerul Azim said that provincial tax should been abolished on the daily-use items. There are millions of out-of-school children across Punjab but no project was announced for the sake of their education.

“There should have been uplifting scheme of higher government education institutions across Punjab while projects for improvement of industry should also have been initiated. The masses should be given facility of inter-city government transport. Small scale farmers have been levied further taxes instead of bringing improvement in agriculture,” he concluded.