June 24, 2006	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

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PESHAWAR, June 23: NWFP Finance Minister Sirajul Haq has urged the president to revise the National Finance Commission award formula and give 60 per cent share in the award to the provinces.

Winding up debate on the provincial budget for 2006-07 here on Friday, he denied opposition’s allegation that the NWFP government had abandoned the joint stand on the NFC award.

He said that except for the NWFP, all the provinces had accepted the president’s formula for the NFC award. He said he had pressed for 60 per cent share for the provinces.

He said the provincial budget was a deficit budget because the NWFP lacked resources to meet its targets. He said the centre would have to pay more than Rs500 billion to the NWFP, which was carryover of the net profit on power generation.

Mr Haq said last year’s devastating earthquake had left a greater task for the government to complete in limited resources.

He said 1,200 kilometres roads across the affected zone in the upper part of the Hazara region had either been completely destroyed or partially damaged. More than 2,700 educational institutions had been destroyed and their reconstruction would cost Rs15 billion, he added.

The minister said funds had been allocated for reconstruction of 690 educational and 26 health institutions in the affected areas.

Mr Haq assured the assembly that opposition lawmakers would be given equal funds for their proposed schemes.

Earlier, opposition leader Shahzada Gustasap Khan accused the provincial government of ignoring opposition members in awarding funds for schemes under the Annual Development Programme.

He said that since abolition of the Districts Development Advisory Committee, the government had no alternative mechanism to execute development schemes.

He said he would not accept funds if opposition MPAs were denied development schemes.

Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan kept pending a resolution jointly moved by Abdul Akbar Khan of the PPP and Health Minister Inyatullah Khan against an incident in the Sindh Assembly wherein a minority member of the ruling PML had misbehaved with a woman MPA.

He said he could not allow any MPA to move a resolution against the ruling given by the Sindh Assembly speaker. He said it was against parliamentary norms to oppose or make speeches against the inside business of an assembly.

He said he had nothing to do with the Sindh Assembly speaker’s decision, instead he wanted to condemn the behaviour of the MPA who had written a letter to the woman MPA.