KARACHI, March 19: The Sindh Cabinet in its meeting here on Friday reviewed the basis for the province's share in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.
The cabinet considered various options for sharing of money from the divisible pool and reached consensus that Sindh would not adopt the sharing of federal resources purely on the basis of population.
A statement, issued by the adviser to chief minister on information, Salahuddin Haider, said that Sindh would emphasize at the ministerial committee meeting of the NFC, scheduled for March 20, in Islamabad, that revenue collection too should form one of the principal basis for share from the divisible pool.
A suggestion was mooted that migration from other areas to Sindh should also be given weight at the NFC meeting which would be presided over by Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and participated by the finance ministers and others from all the four provinces.
Chief Minister Sardar Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar, who presided over the Sindh Cabinet meeting, remarked that he and his government were keen on national consensus which should take into account the aspirations of people of all the provinces.
Sindh Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad briefed the cabinet about the NFC proceedings and suggested that the coming new award should be based on a mixture of factors like population, revenue collection and backwardness. -APP
Our staff reporter adds: Minister for Population Welfare Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh has said that the province was generating 62 per cent of the total revenue for the national kitty therefore while formulating the new National Finance Commission (NFC) award it should also be kept in view.
He said that population should not be made the sole basis for the NFC award, whereas it should be formulated on the basis of revenue generation, poverty, backwardness and area along with the population.
Mr Shaikh, who is also a central leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam), speaking at a press conference at his residence on Friday also demanded that 2.5 per cent GST should not be made part of the divisible pool as it had replaced the toll tax in 1998-99 which was a localized tax and should be reimbursed to the provinces.
He said that the GST on services was a provincial tax, but the Centre collected it with two per cent collection charges. He demanded that it should also be returned to the provinces and the arrears of Sindh under its head be cleared.
He pointed out that the Centre had collected more than Rs3.1 billion during the last two years, but the province had received only Rs1.42 billion, whereas the federal government was holding back its Rs1.6 billion.
The minister said that the provincial cabinet met here on Friday and was presided over by Chief Minister Sardar Ali Mohammad Mahar. He said that the meeting endorsed his proposal that the GST on services should be collected by the province itself and not the Centre.
Mr Shaikh said that the formula for the new NFC award should be a consensus formula accommodating the stands taken by all the provinces.
