PRA surpasses revenue collection target

LAHORE: The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) surpassed the revenue collection target for the fiscal year 2020-21 by collecting Rs144.1 billion against the revised upward target of Rs 141.15 billion. According to the provisional figures released by the PRA, the authority registered a growth of 62 per cent in June 2021 by collecting revenue of Rs15.47 billion as compared to the corresponding period of June 2020 Rs 9.55 billion.

The PRA witnessed 32.7 per cent growth on year basis by collecting Rs144.1 billion in fiscal year 2020-21 as compared to the corresponding fiscal year of Rs 108.59 billion. Initially, the Punjab government had fixed the revenue target of Rs 125 billion for fiscal year 2020-21 which was increased to Rs141.15 billion following the revenue collection performance of the authority.

The authority achieved the initial target of Rs125 billion in May and was confident of achieving the revised target. Punjab Finance Minister Finance Hashim Jawan Bakht said that the government had facilitated the taxpayers and adopted a collaborative approach. This performance, despite giving unprecedented relief in tax rates, proves that the Punjab government’s policy of tax collection through facilitation and collaboration with all stakeholders was bearing fruit. “We have done away with the confrontational mindset and treated taxpayers as our partners in progress,” the minister said. The figures prove the success of the strategy. This is by far the highest collection by any provincial revenue authority in any financial year’, he stated. The minister observed that after surpassing its original target of Rs125 billion in just 11 months, PRA has now surpassed the revised target as well. This figure is expected to increase further once the accounts are finalised. According to the PRA chairperson, this was the first year in the history of PRA that the revenue target was revised upwards. He said that although the rates of sales tax on services were reduced through the Finance Act, 2020 to provide relief to the sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the authority managed to counter the effects of the reduction and had shown an increase in revenue.

health dept uplift budget: Successful utilisation of the development budget for the year 2020-21 was recorded in the history of Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department on 59 schemes. The 59 schemes include establishment and upgrade of government hospitals and laboratories across the province. As a success story, 96 percent of the allocated development budget has been utilised in the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department on 59 development schemes.

The development schemes include TB and Infection Control Programme, upgrade of THQ Burewala from 60-bed to 150-bed hospital, said Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Sarah Aslam. Moreover, RHC Renala Khurd was upgraded to 60-bed THQ hospital. Restructuring and re-modelling of three drug testing laboratories was done in Multan, Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur, she said.