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| November 23, 2005 | Wednesday | Shawwal 20, 1426 |
Govt refuses to brief PA on NFC stand
LAHORE, Nov 22: Punjab Finance Minister Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak on Tuesday flatly refused to brief the house on the provincial government’s stand on sharing country’s resources in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.
“Things are fluid right now. I’ll be able to say something on the subject only after a consensus (among the provinces).”
The minister was responding to a demand by opposition members who wanted to know as to how the provincial government was tackling the matter since other provincial governments had taken into confidence their respective assemblies.
The issue was discussed in detail by the house after treasury’s Syeda Sughra Imam tabled a resolution, desiring a provincial finance commission on the pattern of the NFC award which, she said, had always been given on the basis of population.
The minister opposed the resolution as was done by many opposition members on different grounds. A number of treasury and opposition members however supported it. A majority of them were nevertheless confused over the issue.
The mover at last succumbed to the pressure of the law and finance ministers and agreed to hand over the resolution to the rather than preshouse committee on finance sing for its adoption. She said the resolution could be passed after the NFC award.
The finance minister first tried to avoid a direct answer to the demand by dilating upon the method of the NFC award. “The government knows how to protect the interests of the province.”
When pressed by Rana Sanaullah Khan, he said there were multiple issues, many of them had been agreed upon through consensus while several others were still being debated upon.
“I cannot give any statement till a complete consensus on the entire issue. The mover can present the resolution to seek a pattern of the division of provincial resources among districts after seeing which method has been adopted in the NFC award,” he said.
Rai Ejaz who was in chair kept the matter pending as the mover agreed to it, permitting the opposition members to also discuss the issue in the meetings of the standing committee concerned.
Earlier, the minister said he was opposing the resolution because it was based on an assumption. At present the districts were receiving resources on the basis of an interim PFC given in 2001-02. Their share in 2004-05 was 41 per cent while the rest was being used in the ADP formed by the planning and development department. The government was making its ADP for non-devolved departments, he said.
As many as 67 per cent district resources were being allocated on the basis of population and the remaining 33 per cent on the basis of under-development. All tehsils were receiving resources on the basis of population whereas each union council was getting Rs 60,000. Those in Lahore were paid Rs 180,000 each, every month.
The minister said the province’s development budget for the current year was Rs 53 billion which was monumental.
He disagreed with Rana Sanaullah that Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi had left it to the president to decide the NFC way he liked. The chief minister was not a member of the finance commission. The president could give a decision only after a consensus from all provinces.
Supporting Sughra’s resolution, Sana said the PFC should also be based on population as had been the case with the past NFCs. The Punjab had lost the battle of the pattern of the next NFC by allowing the president to decide it, he said.
He dilated upon the method of the division of national resources. Like in the past, he added, these should be divided on the basis of population.
Sana quoted the 1973 Constitution and said according to it the resources could be shared among the federating units only on the basis of population. By advancing other proposals, the three provinces had violated the constitution, he claimed.
He asked as to why the Punjab government was not sharing its stand on the issue with the assembly whereas the other governments had done so without any hesitation. They (assemblies) had also adopted resolutions to press for their points of view, he said.
The opposition claimed that Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was relying on the president’s support for his office rather than the house. He (the CM) even asked the outspoken treasury MPAs to mind their business during a parliamentary party meeting, conveying them his difficulties in running the government. The treasury benches were silent on the issue because they were not permitted by the president, he alleged.
He said no-one could ever find a way to have a permanent co-existence with the establishment. The present rulers must realize that everyone had to go after some time. “Start supporting the democratic forces in the country,” he said conveying that Mr Nawaz Sharif was ready to cooperate with them.
He claimed that Chaudhrys honeymoon with the establishment was over and they would be deserted in next few months
Sana said an NFC award based on any other formula would cause an irreparable loss to the Punjab. “Share your stand with us because we want to endorse it,” he said. MMA’s Arshad Baggu, Syed Wasim Akhtar and PPP’s Samiullah Khan too wanted to know the official stand.
The resolution was supported by treasury members Abid Chattha, Mohsin Leghari, Humaira Owais, and opposition’s Chaudhry Mushtaq, Raja Tariq Kiani and Farzana Raja.
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