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LAHORE: The Punjab government has taken up its longstanding claims amounting to over Rs143.61 billion with the federal government.
The Punjab government presented its case to Prime Minister Imran Khan and following a nod, it convinced the federal government to pay back the outstanding dues.
The Punjab government has listed its claims of Rs143.61 billion from the ministry of energy, finance division, ministry of overseas Pakistanis and interior division. It claims Rs55.87 billion from the ministry for energy under the head of net hydel profit up to November 2020; Rs32.64 billion from the finance division against mark-Up on 2.5MMT of federal strategic reserves of wheat claimed and Rs9.96 billion for federal share of subsidy on wheat import; Rs4.16 billion from the finance division/FBR against PRA-FBR Cross Adjustment of Taxes up to fiscal 2018-19; Rs32.28 billion from finance division NHSR&C against arrears of Developed Vertical Programmes of health and population welfare; Rs4.61 billion from ministry of the Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development against Workers Welfare Board Fund; and Rs4.09 billion from interior division/ CDA against the CDA share for operation of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus up to Oct 31, 2020.
Punjab Finance Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal said the Punjab government was continuously persuading the federal government and added that now there was a great hope that the huge chunk of money blocked in the federal government would be released and used for the development programmes in the province.
CM: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar chided the opposition for point-scoring on south Punjab, saying the previous PML-N government continued re-appropriating funds allocated for the region and kept people in poverty.
In a statement on Monday, Mr Buzdar said those trying to politic on south Punjab would fail, adding the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had given a new identity to the region by taking concrete measures, including the establishment of south Punjab secretariat in Multan and Bahawalpur, to facilitate the locals.
He regretted that the funds meant for south Punjab were spent on other districts by the previous regimes and added that the past rulers deceived the people of the area in the name of development.
The chief minister said the present government had ring-fenced the development budget of south Punjab to avoid the past practices, adding that the rights of south Punjab were being returned to them by ensuring that allocated funds were aptly utilised for their welfare.