HYDERABAD, Feb 27: Latifabad Taluka Nazim Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani presented a surplus budget of Rs134,551 in the taluka council on Monday. The revised budgetary estimates of 2004-05 were also presented which stood at Rs107.561 million with a surplus amount of Rs242,351 including Rs18.315 million of development and Rs89.246 million for non-development expenditure against a total income of Rs107.804 million.

The butget estimates the revenue at Rs171.977 million and capital income at Rs8.4 million, bringing the total income to Rs180.672 million.

Of non-development allocation of Rs152.537 million, Rs119.054 million is for salaries, contingencies funds of Rs29.173 million, new expenditures are estimated at Rs3.8 million to be spent under the head of capital while charged expenditures are Rs450,000. The total undr the head is estimated Rs152.537 million.

The development component included Rs27.5 million while Rs500,000 have been earmarked for schemes of the citizen community board.

The taluka nazim said that 70 per cent of total revenue income went to salaries of employees which affected expenditures of the TMA.

He called for improvement in various sectors so that new avenues of income could be explored to easily meet salary expenses.

He announced setting up of a recovery cell to accelerate pace of recovery and steps were being taken to ensure recovery of outstanding dues.

“New measures have are being adopted to reduce volume of non-development expenditures”, he said while referring to conversion of vehicles on CNG (compressed natural gas) to save petrol expenses.

He said that the TMA was spending 16 per cent on development from its original income although it needed to be improved up to 30 per cent.

He expressed the hope that with increase in income resources development budget would also be improved.

The break-up of salary and non-salary expenditures i.e Rs119.054 million of the TMA Latifabad included Rs1,226,600 for the taluka nazim office and staff, Rs14,769,300 for taluka naib nazim and staff, Rs2.21 million for taluka municipal office (TMO) and staff, Rs736,800 for law department, Rs2.59 million for finance, Rs14.174 million for regulation, Rs2.18 million for planning branch and Rs94.438 million for infrastructure and services branch of the TMA.

The pay of public health engineering staff Rs2.56 million has also been included in the component which will increase the size of salary component to Rs121.624 million.

There is a contradiction regarding allocation for the Sindh Devolved Social Service Programme.

The nazim in his written budget speech referred to allocation of Rs10 million for 2005-06 under SDSSP while in the budget book the same amount stood at Rs20 million.

The nazim said that the Sindh government as yet did not release allocation of last year for the programme and as soon as it was received it would be spent for health and sanitation works.

He said that under the MPA programme, Rs10 million from funds of MPA Aslam Pervez and Rs5 million were from MPA Naeem Ishtiaq and added that schemes were being or had been executed out of these funds.