MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday announced a tax-free and deficit budget of Rs 68 billion for fiscal year 2015-16 with an allocation of Rs 11.5 billion for development projects.
AJK Minister for Finance and Planning Chaudhary Latif Akbar while presenting the budget in the legislative assembly said all the government employees and pensioners would get the increase in their salaries and pension as announced in the federal budget.
An amount of Rs 56.5 billon has been allocated for current expenditures in the next fiscal year’s budget as compared to Rs 53 billion in the current fiscal year’s budget.
Giving the details of sub-head allocations in the development budget of coming fiscal year, he said an amount of Rs 260.2 million was allocated for agriculture and live stock department as compared to the amount of Rs 230.7 million in the current fiscal year’s budget.
He said Rs 50 million were allocated in the budget of fiscal year 2015-16 for the civil defence, Rs 150 million for development authorities of cities, Rs 1.5 billion were allocated for education as compared to the amount of Rs 799.5 million in the current fiscal year budget.
A sum of Rs 50 million have been allocated for environmental protection agency in fiscal year 2015-16 budget as compared to the amount of Rs 20 millions in this head in the current fiscal year’s budget and Rs 600 million were allocated for the ongoing foreign aid projects as compared to the Rs 100.5 million of current budget, Akbar added.
He said Rs 400 million were allocated for the forest, fisheries and wildlife department in the coming fiscal year, while health department would get Rs 340 million in the next budget as compared to the amount of Rs 280 million in the current budget.
Industries and mineral resources department will receive an amount of Rs 179 million in the next fiscal year’s budget as compared to the amount of Rs 150 million in the current fiscal year’s budget.
Information department will get Rs 10 million, information technology department Rs 125 million, local governments Rs 800 million, Physical Planning and Housing department Rs 780 million and transport department will receive an amount of Rs 25 million.
In the development expenditures head, a huge amount of Rs 4.79 billion has been allocated for the roads communications and buildings in the coming fiscal year’s budget while Rs 3.5 billion will be provided to State Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (SEERA) during the coming fiscal year.
Giving details of income heads of the government, the Finance minister said during the coming fiscal year, an amount of 16.56 billion was estimated from the state resources, Rs 780 million were expected as royalty of Mangla Dam, share from the federal taxes was estimated Rs 16.75 billion and share from the Kashmir Council taxes was estimated Rs 13 billion.
He said during the next fiscal year, a green cab scheme worth Rs 25 million will be implemented by the AJK government with the aim to provide employment opportunities to the youth.
He further said the government was planning to implement different projects worth Rs 8.5 billion with the assistance of World Bank and Asian Development Bank to restore the flood affected infrastructure.
Explaining some positive features of the Budget, the Minister said the allocation in the production sector has been increased by 7 per cent.
He said allocation for basic infrastructure has also been increased by 8 oer cent besides increasing allocation for the social sector by 19 percent.
