By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin on Wednesday said the government wanted to end the old tradition of supplementary grants by proper implementing of the financial discipline.
The past governments had also approved trillions of rupees in supplementary grants, which would be phase out gradually, the minister said this while addressing the budget 2021-22 session here in Parliament House.
He said that Rs 1.4 trillion in the form of supplementary grants in 2012-13 and Rs 5.67 trillion in 2013-14 were passed by the Parliament.
The minister informed that in 2017, a similar supplementary grant of Rs 600 billion was approved by the Parliament.
In the past, there was a tradition of trillions of rupees of supplementary grants which the present government had reduced to Rs 487.152 billion for the year 2021, he added.
The minister said these grants would be gradually reduced in the future.
In response to the question raised from the opposition, Shaukat Tarin said that the total of supplementary grants of Rs 590.270, Rs 487.152 and Rs 169.163 for past three years from 2018-19,2019-20 and 2020-21 had been approved.
He said the government had provided Rs 417 billion through ‘Stimulus Package ‘during the COVID -19 pandemic to the people.
He said that the government had provided Rs 260 billion subsidy for relief to electricity consumers in the country.
The Prime Minister house has released Rs 8 billion for emergency relief during the COVID- 19 pandemic.
The minister said that the government had also released Rs 20 billion in form of Drawback on Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) to the local industry.
He said that Rs 33 billion was also allocated for the construction of ‘Diamer Bhasha Dam’ and another Rs 26 paid in shape DLTL repayments.
While in the session, the NA approved 174 supplementary grants of the last three fiscal years.
