May 24, 2005	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1426

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PESHAWAR, May 23: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ms Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli has observed that all the four provinces will succeed in evolving a consensus formula for the distribution of resources under the National Finance Commission award.

Talking to journalists here at the Peshawar Press Club on Sunday, Ms Tahirkheli said that the federal government had tried its best to evolve a consensus among the provinces but it could not make a breakthrough owing to their rigid stand on the funds distribution formula.

She said their grievances were genuine but they must show flexibility in the larger national interests. The federal government had provided them (provinces) billions of rupees for their mega projects in the past and more funds were being given to them for social sector schemes, she added.

She said the government would provide reasonable relief to the people, particularly the salaried and middle- and lower-middle classes of society in the forthcoming federal budget.

She said the government had already been providing subsidy to the people in the sale of petroleum products, which caused a huge loss to the national exchequer. The government also provided relief to farmers in the form of support prices and agriculture loans on soft terms, she added.

She said the government had given a number of incentives to traders and industrialists for making investment in the newly-established industrial estates. The government had fully restored peace in the industrial zones of the country, she added.

Replying to a question, she denied that the prime minister had dropped the idea of big dams’ construction in the country. She, however, said the government was trying to sort out the Kalabagh dam issue through evolving consensus on it. She conceded that no allocation had been made in the budget for the Kalabagh dam “because it involved a number of technicalities”.

After completing a technical report on the dam, the government would allocate funds for it, she added.

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