LAHORE: Punjab government on Tuesday designated an online portal for parliamentarians to receive their suggestions and schemes for provincial budget 2020-21 in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairing a review meeting of provincial budget here, Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bkaht said the new portal was developed on ‘budget2021.punjab.gov.pk’. He added that portal named ‘Aap Ki Rai’ (your suggestion) was created in order to maintain the social distancing in the wake of COVID-19 while all members of Punjab Assembly would access the portal through their respective passwords and logins to submit their recommendations for the budget. In the past, government used to hold pre-budget discussions with parliamentarians to know about their schemes, suggestions and recommendations, he maintained.
Provincial Minister said that budget preparation was an important component and responsibility of the government and could not be completed without taking on board the stakeholders, public representatives and elected members of the assembly. He said the despite delay in assembly session due to coronavirus pandemic, the pre-budget session and discussions were underway.
The minister said the portal was user-friendly while the parliamentarians could send their suggestions in simplified method to Punjab Finance Department in two weeks of time. The Finance Department, he added, would present these suggestions and recommendations to the provincial cabinet for the approval. The parliamentarians’ suggestions and demands would be reviewed and considered accordingly, he assured.
