Islamabad releases 816million rupees for pensions and salaries in GB

PT Report

Gilgit, February 2: The federal finance department has released an amount of eight hundred and sixteen million rupees  for the Government of Gilgit – Baltistan, to facilitate payment of salaries, pensions and other recurring expenses.

The GB Government is complete dependent on financing from Islamabad for payments against small and large expenses. The environment in GB is not conducive for imposition of taxes, due to non-representation in the national parliament. Rampant cases of corruption are likely to further raise scepticism about the regional government’s ability to fairly utilize resources generated through taxation.

The financial dependency is considered to be a major hurdle for empowerment of the GB government.