Punjab budget features CM’s programmes for children, working women, special persons

Lahore: Punjab budget featured Chief Minister’s programmes for the wellbeing of children, working women, special persons, and transgender community, as well as welfare programmes for minorities.

In his budget speech on the floor of the Punjab Assembly here on Thursday, Provincial Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that Punjab Chief Minister is going to launch various welfare initiative during the next financial year.

He mentioned that Chief Minister’s Punjab Schools Meal Programme will be initiated with a cost of Rs 01 billion for the effective mental and physical growth of children; Daycare Centres will be established across Punjab for the children of working women with a cost of Rs 01 billion; Chief Minister Skill Development Programme worth Rs 01 billion to facilitate the transgender community; and Minority Development Fund would be established with a cost of Rs 2.5 billion.

Similarly, he mentioned that Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer Treatment and Research would be built in Lahore with a cost of Rs 56 billion; Rs 8.84 billion will be spent on construction of Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cardiology Sargodha; Rs 450 million has been allocated for launching of air ambulance service; and Rs 01 billion has been set aside for Clinic on Wheels Project under which 200 ambulances are providing healthcare facilities to the people in far-flung areas. In addition, he said, Mobile Field Hospital Programme has been started with an objective to activate and increase Healthcare Coverage in the province.