July 29, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1424

PESHAWAR, July 28: The NWFP government’s bid to improve recoveries under the provincial own receipts (PORs) head of abiana (water rate) during the 2002-03 financial year fell far short from yielding the desired results as it could achieve less than 50 per cent of the collection target it had set for the last financial year, according to official sources.

The provincial government had set a Rs313 million recoveries target for the 2002-03 financial year against which, according to sources, the province raised around Rs150m, making about 48 per cent of the total annual target.

In this way, according to sources, the provincial government failed to fulfil yet another condition under the multi-million-dollar loan agreement of the World Bank.

The provincial government even failed to meet or record recoveries any thing near to the downward revised collection target of Rs190m, set for the 2002-03 financial year.

Annual target of recoveries under the head of abiana was brought down to Rs190m for the last financial year after the provincial government’s receipts collection agencies — Board of Revenue and the irrigation department — continued to put on a poor show during the last fiscal year.

The recoveries recorded in the 2002-03 financial year, said the sources, were less than the amount the province had collected in the 2001-02 financial year when it had raised a total of Rs152m.

“Instead of making improvement, the province went from bad to worse as far as collecting abiana is concerned,” said a senior government functionary.

The failure on the part of the provincial government appears to be all the more grimmer after the 25 per cent raise effected in the ratio of water rate, too, could not help the provincial tax collection machinery to record improvement under this vital head of PORs.

In line with a condition of a foreign loan agreement signed by Islamabad in 1996-97, all the four provinces are required to effect 25 per cent increase in their rate of abiana — in an effort to ensure gradual improvement in abiana recoveries.

Though the successive NWFP governments have been effecting the increase every year, the over all recoveries could not be improved.

“It is certainly a serious matter as the NWFP government had made commitment with the World Bank to improve its abiana recoveries during the 2002-03 financial year,” said one of the official sources.

The provincial government’s move to assign the role of making abiana recoveries from the farmers to the irrigation department, NWFP—relieving the provincial Board of Revenue from the same assignment — during the 2002-03 financial year, too, did not work.

“Rather, the situation has become all the more serious as abiana recoveries fell short from the level recorded in the 2001- 02 financial year,” said the official.

Under the new administrative arrangement, the irrigation department, NWFP, had been assigned to collect abiana (fresh demand for the 2002-03 financial year). Whereas, Board of Revenue had been assigned to recover outstanding amount accumulated against farmers till December 31 last.

Not only that the board failed to recover 100 per cent of the outstanding amount, irrigation department, too, miserably failed to raise “respectable” amount against the fresh demand.

“The new arrangement is expected to bring about improvement during the second year of its implementation,” remarked a tax collector of the provincial government.