Govt approves over Rs60 million for President House's gardens' maintenance

Cash-strapped Pakistan's federal government has approved over Rs60 million for the maintenance of the gardens of President House, which is currently hosting chief of state Asif Ali Zardari.

According to an official document available with Dialogue Pakistan, the extravagant amount was approved in the federal budget for the fiscal year 2024-25.

As per the document, the amount was raised from Rs30 million to Rs63.33 million for the parks' maintenance in the budget.

The papers showed that almost 85 people will serve as the gardeners in the President's House in Islamabad.

The breakdown of the amount revealed that Rs22,100,000 was allocated for the salaries of the staff annually.

Rs32,130,000 was reserved for allowances, Rs21,130,000 for regular allowances, Rs11,000,000 for other allowances, Rs1,100,000 for travel and transportation, Rs500,000 for general expenses, Rs1,000,000 for pensions, Rs1,000,000 for purchase of plants and machinery and Rs5,550,000 for repairs and maintenance.

On the other hand, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb had unveiled a tax-laden budget, in which the salaried class was burdened with several taxes.