Punjab budget not encouraging for education sector

‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Thursday

KARACHI: The allocation for education sector in the Punjab budget has not been increased according to the overall budget of the province, said Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Thursday.

Commenting on the amendment to the Income Tax Ordinance vis-à-vis prices of property, Shahzeb Khanzada said that the government’s announcement for revaluation of properties has created restlessness among the property dealers.

“Even we are being criticised for having raised this issue in our programme. Besides, there is an opinion which says that the market would crash after the government’s decision,” said Shahzeb Khanzada.

In a different segment of the programme, Shahzeb said that CNN has screened a documentary giving an inside account of Daesh and the blunders the USA had committed. The Daesh threat emerged due to US blunder and irresponsibility, and now the entire world is bearing the brunt of that mistake.

Meanwhile, Punjab education minister Rana Mashood, while talking to Shahzeb Khanzada on the programme, said that the education budget in Punjab is utilised a hundred percent whereas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa only forty percent of the funds are used.

The minister said that the boundary walls of 96 percent of schools in Punjab have been completed. Rana Mashood said that the media ignores Shahbaz Sharif’s reforms in the social sector.

He said that his government is introducing a new system of schools in Rajanpur in collaboration with the Punjab Education Foundation. “Our vision envisages that no child would be outside the school by 2018 in Punjab,” the minister said.

An expert on matters of taxation, Shabbar Zaidi, told Shahzeb Khanzada on the programme that the government has done the right thing by effecting an amendment to the Income Tax Ordinance vis-à-vis prices of property. Nevertheless, Zaidi said, there will be some teething problems for the government in getting the law implemented. 

Shabbar Zaidi said that undocumented money in the property market must be curbed. He reiterated that the government has taken the right step. He also said that the government must ensure a transparent mechanism for determining a property’s market value so that there is no room for anyone to exploit the matter.

Former mayor of Karachi, Mustafa Kamal, while talking to Shahzeb Khanzada on the programme, said that Karachi’s problems can be solved in six months’ time provided there is a will to do so. He said that neither the provincial government nor those who have Karachi’s mandate are willing to solve Karachi’s problems.

“For both of them, Karachi has become a sort of a conquered territory and a treasure trove which they are looting together,” said Mustafa Kamal. “In 2009 I had persuaded the Sindh chief minister to accompany me to Gujjar nullah. Because of encroachments there, machines for cleanliness cannot enter the area. Arrangement had been put in place for the shifting of the people from Gujjar nullah,” the former mayor of Karachi said. Mustafa Kamal said the city has water, and still the people have to buy it. There are hundreds of water hydrants in the city which are selling water.