October 27, 2001	Saturday	Shaba'an 9, 1422

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QUETTA, Oct 26: The Balochistan government is seeking Rs4 billion contingency assistance from Islamabad to meet the incremental expenses in maintenance of law and order and also to replenish social sector depletion and environmental degradation to be caused by the fresh wave of Afghan refugees.

Officially, the Pakistan government has sealed all borders with Afghanistan and as a matter of policy the government is in no mood to allow the influx of refugees. But in their private conversations, senior officials of the Balochistan government estimate a fresh influx of “six to seven lakh refugees” in the coming months to quote a bureaucrat who is in a senior position.

“Who can stop the influx through unfrequented entry points on the Pakistan-Afghan border?” the senior bureaucrat asked.

The Balochistan government is demanding Rs1 billion for the deployment of troops in Quetta and other principal towns to maintain law & order. An amount of Rs3 billion would be needed to maintain environmental balance and strengthen water resources besides some investment in social sectors.

“It is a very modest assessment of additional funds requirement,” a senior official explained. He pointed out that Balochistan was already under pressure because of shortfall in receipts of funds from Islamabad from its share in divisible pool. The CBR is not able to collect the targeted amount of taxes in first four months and has applied a cut on funds’ transfer to the provinces.

Afghan refugees reacted violently a day after the US launched air raids on Afghanistan on Oct 7 and caused heavy damage to public and private properties. Besides compensation to the owners who suffered losses in riots, additional troops have been deployed. A very limited fiscal space is available in Rs28 billion budget. It does not allow the Balochistan government much room to meet the incremental expenses and hence the demand for Rs1 billion.

Officials fear a massive environmental degradation on arrival of Afghan refugees. “Forest and vegetation are their primary targets, a senior official who has more than seven years association in dealing with Afghan refugees affairs in Balochistan, said. All measures that the provincial government planned to take to save whatever remains in name of forests and take up some more development in that direction would involve considerable cost.

As a precautionary step all those Afghans who would make their entry into Pakistan will be confined to camps near the border and the Balochistan government was working out the cost involve in projects to take water to those settlements. Simultaneously, the government plans to take measures to recharge underground water table.

Additional cost on health care and education will cost a total of Rs3 billion. The Balochistan government is facing an additional expenditure of Rs1.5 to Rs2 billion from January on account of salary increase given to government employees from December.

The total wage bill of the Balochistan government is about Rs10 billion while additional cost comes to Rs3.25 billion. A cash-strapped Balochistan will now have to provide about Rs11.5 to Rs12 billion for salaries.