Balochistan cabinet approves budget outlay of more than Rs215bn

QUETTA: The Balochistan cabinet on Thursday approved a budget outlay of more than 215 billion rupees for the financial year 2014-15 as compared to last year’s Rs98.395bn total outlay, according to budget documents received by Dawn. The meeting of the provincial cabinet was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch. In an effort to improve governance, the Balochistan government has also banned the purchase of luxury vehicles as well as visits of legislators and bureaucrats to foreign countries through government funds. Despite the financial constraints and backwardness of the province, the government increased the non-development expenditures from Rs154 billion to Rs164 billion. However, the government increased the funds for the public sector development programme from last year’s Rs43.913 billion to Rs50.742 billion this year. Last year’s infighting among the coalition partners over attractive portfolios caused a six-month delay in the formation of cabinet in Balochistan. The provincial government could not complete the development projects owing to delayed formation of the cabinet. “Government could not use more than Rs2 billion for development projects”, a well-placed source in the Balochistan government told Dawn. Moreover, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Malik Baloch told Dawn.com that the funds would not lapse and a mechanism was prepared to re-use it upon completion of ongoing projects. In view of the worsening law and order situation, the Balochistan government has also increased the budget for law and order from Rs16 billion to Rs17.25 billion, the document said. Similarly, the coalition government has also decided to increase compensation for the victims of terrorism from Rs2 million to Rs4 million. The government also increased the salaries and pensions of government employees by 10 per cent. According to the budget documents, the government has given priority to education and health sector and 25 per cent funds were allocated for the education sector.