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Punjab govt slashes cultural budget by Rs 5 million:Cultural, literary bodies get independent funds
- Lahore Museum allocated Rs 29.81 million
* Minister for culture terms budget allocation sufficient, says previous funds had lapsed
By Ali Usman
LAHORE: The Punjab government has divided the funds allocated for cultural activities in the budget for 2009-10 under different heads as compared to last year when they were all allocated under one head – the promotion of cultural activities.
In the budget for the previous financial year 2008-09, the government had allocated Rs 109 million for the promotion of cultural activities. Under this head, funds were separately allocated for the Lahore Arts Council (LAC), the Punjab Council of Arts, the Folk Arts and Crafts Complex, the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Foundation, the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (PILAAC), the Board of Advertisement of Literature, and for other cultural and literary bodies.
In the budget for 2009-10, all these bodies have been allocated independent funds amounting to Rs 100 million. The government has also allotted Rs 4 million under the separate head of promotion of cultural activities. Thus, the total amount allocated for cultural activities this year is Rs 104 million, Rs 5 million less than last year.
Apart from these funds, the government has also allocated Rs 400 million for the Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Department.
The government has allocated around Rs 31 million for the LAC against last budget’s Rs 35 million. It has set aside Rs 47.6 million for the Punjab Council of Arts against Rs 45.42 million in the previous year’s budget. The Punjab Folk Arts and Crafts Complex has been allocated Rs 1.85 million against the Rs 1.71 million it was allocated in last year’s budget. For PILAAC, Rs 16 million have been reserved, up from last year’s Rs 15.62 million. The government has reserved Rs 2.9 million for the Board of Advancement of Literature.
The revised budget 2008-09 for the promotion of cultural activities was Rs 175 million.
Museums: The government has increased the budget for museums from Rs 32.16 million in 2008-09 to Rs 34.15 million in the budget for 2009-2010. Rs 29.81 million have been reserved for the Lahore Museum.
Sufficient allocation: Punjab Minister for Culture Dr Tanveerul Islam told Daily Times the budget allocated for the promotion of cultural activities was sufficient. He said the revised budget for 2008-09 had been greater than this year’s budget but the funds were not used, and had lapsed. He said, “We want that more and more money should be spent on cultural activities. We will allocate more funds from the discretionary funds, if they are to be spent on cultural activities.”
Daily Times:
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