KARACHI, May 30: The federal government has indicated that it may transfer to provinces the responsibilities of education, health and family welfare and the maintenance of archeological sites and cultural heritage.
This indication came from Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali in the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday. He took notice of the criticism of the provincial chief ministers and other functionaries who were not happy with the allocation of the bulk of resources to federal ministries in the development budget for 2003-04 and a phenomenal increase in their allocations.
“Prime Minister Jamali assured all the participants of the NEC that the process of decentralization of education, health, population welfare, archeological sites and cultural heritage will begin from next year,” a well-placed source who attended the NEC meeting quoted the prime minister as saying.
The public sector development plan approved at Rs160 billion provides about Rs55 billion for federal ministries and over Rs26 billion for corporations for the year 2003-04. In sharp contrast, the provinces have been given Rs47 billion, a rise of 6.6 per cent over Rs44 billion given in the current fiscal year.
Dr Ataur Rehman, chairman of the commission on higher education, is reported to have questioned the technical capabilities of the provinces to manage higher education. He blamed proliferation of “one and two room private universities” in the country with hardly two or three faculty members.
The source said that Dr Ataur Rehman had written a letter to all provinces asking them to take notice of such universities in their respective jurisdiction and take appropriate action.
While the provinces came down hard on federal allocations and talked of an over-centralized financial structure, the federal government blamed the provinces for failing to utilize whatever funds were given to them in the budget.
According to the source, the federal government pointed out that the provinces could not utilize even 50 per cent of the Rs44 billion allocated to them in the current development budget.
The Sindh delegation raised the question of the Greater Thal Canal project. The NEC was informed that the Sindh Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution against the construction of this canal.
The prime minister and the finance minister were reported to have responded positively to the issues raised by the Sindh chief minister and his team who pointed out that the PSDP for 2003-04 had deleted all those mega projects for which President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the prime minister had promised funds.
“The finance minister is expected to hold a meeting very soon with Sindh government on release of funds promised by the president and the prime minister for the projects,” the source disclosed.
The Sindh chief minister had carried with him a list of nine specific projects for which the president had committed funds. Sindh now wants about Rs3 billion to start these projects. There are four other projects for which the prime minister had promised funds.
