ECC okays Rs42.5bn for holding polls
The committee gives Rs200m for making SIFC secretariat operational
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) Thursday approved Rs42.5 billion for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as technical supplementary grant (TSG) for holding general elections in the country.
The ECC also approved Rs200 million for the much-hyped Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) for the current fiscal year. The ECC was informed on Thursday that in line with the constitutional requirements, the ECP had taken all necessary steps to conduct the next general election. For the purpose, the commission had already requested the Finance Division to allocate the funds. In response, the Finance Division sent a summary, under U.O. No. 2(5)/Budget-I1/2023-24, dated 17th July 2023, to the ECC for approval.
An official announcement, made by the Ministry of Finance after the meeting, said that the ECC considered and approved a summary of the ECP regarding the demand for funds of Rs42.528 billion as TSG for the conduct of general election in FY2023-2024. The ECC allowed Rs10 billion as the first release and further releases on need basis.
Earlier, the matter of allocation of budget for the SIFC Secretariat had come under discussion at the level of Apex, Executive and Implementation Committees of the SIFC and it had been decided that allocation of budget for the SIFC Secretariat might be made available on an immediate basis for operationalization of the secretariat. The ECC considered a summary of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on charging electricity rates to cinema houses. In order to revive the film industry in Pakistan, the ECC approved the proposal that cinemas might be charged electricity as per rates admissible to industry.
