23 March 2004	Tuesday	01 Safar 1425

ISLAMABAD, March 22: All the political parties belonging to NWFP on Monday supported the provincial assembly and the jirga decision that the 6th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award should not be signed unless the federal government makes a commitment to the arbitration between provincial government and Wapda in their dispute over cumulative net hydel power profit as guaranteed by the article 161(2) of the Constitution.

This consensus was reached at a seminar titled "NFC Award and Net Hydel Power Profit" held at a local hotel under the aegis of 'NWFP Jirga" and was represented by the senators from the MMA, PML-N, PML-Q, PPP Parliamentarians and ANP.

Speaking on the occasion, the provincial senior minister and minister for finance Sirajul Haq said that the MMA government was convinced that instead of moving the Supreme Court it should revert to its people if the central government did not recognize the provincial share in federal resources including the outstanding amount of Rs342 billion which Wapda owed to it from its net profits income of hydel power.

He lamented what he termed the step-motherly treatment of NWFP by successive central governments as a result of which the province was forced to lag far behind in development and had become the poorest province of the country with around 47 per cent people living below the poverty line.

He disclosed that the province was paid only Rs131 billion as against its legitimate dues of Rs215 billion during the period under the 5th NFC award by paying only Rs14 billion against projected Rs21 billion from subvention grant and paid Rs82 billion out of Rs136 billion from divisible pool allocations.

Mr Siraj demanded that either the provincial share from the divisible pool is enhanced to over 50 per cent in the next NFC award or it is kept at the old rates of 37.5 per cent so that we can tell the people about the injustice meted out to the provinces by the centre.

He said that the centre had delayed for two months an adjustment of Rs2 billion the NWFP had paid against a federal loan and a request by the province to allow it to pay its outstanding loans by borrowing from the private/foreign banks was also rejected. He demanded a relief package for the province.