ISLAMABAD, April 13: President Gen Pervez Musharraf would preside over two meetings of provincial chief ministers, one on the Police Ordinance and the other on the construction sector, on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters that the president would also take this opportunity to discuss on the sidelines matters relating to the National Finance Commission award. The president was earlier scheduled to discuss the NFC issue with the chief ministers on Tuesday.
He said the meeting on the construction industry would also be attended by heads of Central Board of Revenue, State Bank of Pakistan, Planning Commission, representatives of contractors, builders, cement, steel and all related industries.
The president, sources said, had recently expressed concern over the delay in the implementation of police ordinance in the provinces and had asked them to expedite the process.
The provinces have been dragging their feet on police reforms quoting financial constraints to set up police safety commissions, new branches of the police and purchase of their vehicles, equipment and offices.
The meeting is thus expected to discuss financial requirements of the provinces that may be accommodated in the federal budget 2004-05. Punjab has been demanding exclusion of the police from the sixth schedule for easier implementation but this has been rejected by the federal government saying it has been protected for six years under the 17th amendment.
Sindh has been demanding amendments to the procedure for setting up of public safety commission.
