Not a single government department in Punjab achieved its development goals for the current fiscal year, according to the third quarter financial report presented at the Provincial Assembly for the debate after the budget.
The report exposes a significant gap between budget allocations and real spending in all departments, which underlines inefficiencies in the use of funds during the third quarter of fiscal year 2024–25.
According to the report, the Punjab government assigned a total of RS488.43b for development in the third quarter, but only RS355.43b was spent.
Expenditure regarding the department
Several departments in Punjab could not use their development budgets assigned for the third quarter of the fiscal year. The Department of Agriculture, for example, received RS3B but managed to spend only RS1.21B.
The Income Board was assigned RS30.5b but used only RS4.79b. The Department of Communication and Works spent RS2.91B of its assignment of RS4.62B, reflecting the Department of Education, which also received RS4.62B but only spent RS2.91b. The Finance Department used RS1.33b of its RS2.3b budget. Meanwhile, the Department of Forests, Wildlife and Fisheries served better than most, spending RS296.04b of a massive allocation of RS324.24b.
The Department of Health used RS1.26b of its RS1.98b budget, while the Department of Origin spent only RS2.18B of RS25.5b assigned. The Department of Housing and Public Health Engineering Vio RS1.22b destined for development, with only GASTED RS670m.
Similarly, the industry, the Department of Commerce and Investment used only RS270m of its RS1.64b budget. The Irrigation Department spent RS5.85B of its assignment of RS19.5b, and the Livestock and Dairy Development Department managed to use only RS930M of its RS1.97B budget.
Limited progress in other departments
The Department of Law and Parliamentary Affairs spent RS1B of its assignment of RS1.41b, while the department of Mines and Minerals used RS12.06b of RS31b. The Police Department was among the best artists, using RS13.93b of its RS16.25b budget.
Under various expenses, RS24.17b were assigned, but only RS7.65b was used.
The findings have caused concern about bureaucratic inefficiencies and the lack of execution in development planning, especially when the province dealt with socio -economic challenges. The report is expected to ask difficult questions in the discussions of the ongoing assembly.
