The district administration has sent the Punjab government a Rs1.017 billion estimate for the March 12–14 festival, led by Rs462 million for traffic police. Last 2026’s Basant cost Rs200 million and left at least 17 people dead.
LAHORE: The Lahore district administration has estimated that (2027) next year’s three-day Basant festival will cost Rs1.017 billion and has formally shared its recommendations and spending details with the Government of Punjab, according to official documents cited in a local television report.
The estimate, Rs1 billion, 1 crore and 73 lakh, covers security, traffic, rescue, sanitation, publicity and the crackdown on banned kite string for the festival on March 12, 13 and 14, 2027. It has not yet been approved. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif will give the final nod after the Finance Department reviews it, and the summary will then go to the provincial cabinet.
The figure is about five times what Basant cost this year. For the three-day festival in February 2026, the administration asked for Rs260 million, and the government approved Rs200 million on the Finance Department’s advice.
Where the money would go
The biggest single demand comes from the Chief Traffic Officer, who has sought Rs461.8 million for security and traffic arrangements, more than twice the entire cost of this year’s festival.
The documents recommend Rs200 million for the Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab and Rs199.8 million for the district administration to cover emergency and unforeseen expenses. The Punjab Mass Transit Authority has asked for about Rs99 million for festival arrangements.
Smaller requests include Rs28.6 million from the DIG Operations for security, Rs18.5 million for the Walled City of Lahore Authority, Rs5.5 million for the Lahore Waste Management Company’s sanitation work, Rs3.36 million for Civil Defence and Rs600,000 for Rescue 1122.
According to the documents, the money will fund control rooms, checkpoints, field camps and rooftop surveillance. It will also be spent on traffic management, rescue, medical aid, sanitation and awareness campaigns, and on action against the manufacture, sale and use of banned kites and string.
The city is also set to be lit up for the festival, with lights and decorations along major roads, in line with plans by the Parks and Horticulture Authority to decorate roads by category and stage a grand festival with floats, food and music.
The allocation will be a ceiling rather than a guaranteed sum, and any unspent money will have to be returned to the government, the documents state. The departments involved include the traffic police, Lahore police, the PHA, the tourism department and the Walled City Authority.
Finance Department expected to cut
Officials expect the Finance Department to raise objections and recommend that the costs be rationalised, given the financial squeeze the province is under. The same department trimmed this year’s request by Rs60 million.
The pressure on public money is real. Pakistan is under a $7 billion IMF programme that demands tight fiscal discipline, and Punjab’s own commitments are growing, from a free treatment bill that doubled to Rs36.5 billion in four months to flour subsidies. Critics will ask why a three-day festival needs more than Rs1 billion; supporters argue that Basant draws tourists, revives a cottage industry and, done safely, pays for itself in economic activity.
The scale of the security budget reflects what happened this year. When the Punjab government lifted a ban of more than two decades and allowed Basant in early February 2026, at least 17 people died and more than 160 were injured across Punjab, according to the provincial Home Department, with media reports putting the toll as high as 21. Most deaths, 12, were from falls from rooftops, and three were from electrocution, reports said. The deaths prompted a court challenge and petitions seeking accountability.
Next year’s rules are stricter. A notification issued last week by the deputy commissioner restricts kite flying to March 12–14, limits the size of kites, bans metal, nylon and glass-coated string, requires manufacturers and sellers to register digitally and keep stock records, and makes safety rods on motorcycles compulsory. The festival dates themselves returned to March after a brief switch, following a cabinet U-turn this month.
Crackdown on Kite Selling and Flying already under way
Police are already acting against illegal supplies months before the window opens. They have seized 4,470 kites in one operation and arrested a constable and his family supplying banned kite gear to Lahore. Kite makers, meanwhile, complain that of 4,000 licence applications, none had been issued by late September, and veterans of the trade are pressing for legal charkhis and free trade before the festival. Prices of thread, paper and bamboo have already climbed.
The estimate will now be examined by the Finance Department, which is expected to recommend cuts, before going to the chief minister and the cabinet for a final decision. The amount approved will show how much the government is prepared to spend to make the chief minister’s three-day festival safer than the last.
For Lahoris, the question is simple. If Rs1 billion buys a festival without the funerals of 2026, many will think it money well spent. If it buys lights and floats while rooftops stay unsafe, it will be hard to justify.
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