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| May 30, 2005 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 21, 1426 |
Sindh responsible for NFC delay: Durrani
PESHAWAR, May 29: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani has held Sindh responsible for the delay in reaching a consensus on the National Finance Commission award. Talking to reporters after inaugurating an IT exhibition, Brainstorm 2005, here the chief minister said by causing a delay in the finalization of the NFC award, Sindh was not setting a good precedent.
Mr Durrani said he would soon speak to his counterpart from Sindh and try to persuade him to agree to a consensus formula on the NFC. Regretting the Sindh finance minister’s absence from the NFC-related meeting, he said the Sindh official should have attended the meeting and presented his views on the subject.
Mr Durrani said that his government had worked out a formula that could help achieve consensus among all provinces.
In reply to a question, the chief minister said the draft Hasba bill was being reviewed by legal and constitutional experts following which it would be presented before the MMA supreme council for approval.
He said he had requested Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to issue orders for the convening of an arbitration committee to resolve the controversy over net hydel profit between the NWFP and Wapda.
He said his government would project the net hydel profit at Rs8 billion in the next budget than the normally received Rs6 billion but warned that refusal by Wapda to increase the capped amount would cause financial problems for the province.
The chief minister disclosed that a survey on provision of gas from Kohat to Peshawar had been completed which would help overcome gas shortage in the provincial capital.
He said the government had also sanctioned Rs2 billion to provide gas to southern districts of the NWFP.
Mr Durrani said any decision to replace district nazims with administrators would have to be taken by the federal rather than the provincial government. “And we will wait to see what decision it takes,” he remarked.
Regarding his participation or otherwise in the National Security Council meeting, the chief minister denied that there were any differences in the religious parties alliance over the issue. He said it was up to the MMA supreme council to decide the matter.
Earlier, speaking at the inaugural session of the seminar, the chief minister condemned the suicide blast at the shrine of Bari Imam in Islamabad.
He said women needed not worry about the Hasba bill as the government planned to frame laws that would grant them their due right in inheritance and prohibit divorce by way of three pronouncements in one go.
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