March 23, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 19, 1424

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PESHAWAR, March 22: In an attempt to avoid at source deduction from the provincial government, district governments of the NWFP have started reconciling their accounts with the local staff of the Water and Power Development Authority according to sources.

“The exercise has recently been started with several of the district governments entering into negotiations with Wapda’s local staff to resolve the long pending issue,” official sources told Dawn.

Several of the district governments were compelled to reconcile their accounts with the power authority after the NWFP government started making book adjustments against their accounts to recover the amount Wapda deducted at source from its income to recover arrears payable by the local bodies institutions.

At source deduction by the provincial government made some of the district governments to experience financial constraints and budgetary distortions, according to sources.

Wapda deducted at source over Rs585 million from the NWFP in the 2001-02 financial year to recover the arrears it had laid claim to against the district governments and their subordinate institutions in the province.

Of the amount a sum of Rs395 million was deducted at source from the NWFP’s funds to recover electricity arrears payable by the Peshawar city district government, nine million rupees from Charsadda district government, three million from Nowshera district, Rs20 million from Mardan, Rs25 million from Kohat, Rs46 million from Abbottabad, nine million from Haripur, eight million from D. I. Khan, three million from Tank, Rs9.8 million from Mansehra, Rs13 million from Bannu and Rs14 million from Lakki Marwat.

NWFP’s interim-period Provincial Finance Commission Award — effective from July 1, 2002, for a period of one year — empowers the provincial government to recover from the district governments the amount deducted at source from its (provincial government’s) income by Wapda or the federal government.

At source deduction by the provincial government, according to the sources, plunged several of the district governments into deep financial crisis with some of the new administrative entities finding it difficult to meet their important current expenditure requirements.

The Peshawar city district government had already taken the issue before the district council members who, in their meeting couple of days back, took strong exception to the deduction by the NWFP government.

One of the finance managers of the province told this reporter that Swat district government held a meeting with the local Wapda staff on March 17.