November 05, 2006	Sunday	Shawwal 12, 1427

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QUETTA, Nov 4: Members of the Balochistan Assembly have called for distribution of resources under the National Finance Commission award on the basis of area, instead of population, to resolve financial problems of the province.

During a session of the assembly held here on Saturday, the lawmakers also demanded that Balochistan should be paid its arrears of gas royalty outstanding against the federal government so that development schemes in the province could be implemented.

Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar presided over the session.

Shah Zaman Rind, Mir Haidar Jamali and Rubina Irfan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Shafiq Ahmad Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians and Rehmatullah Baloch and Dr Shama Ishaq of the National Party took part in the debate on an adjournment motion stressing fair distribution of funds under the NFC award.

They proposed formation of a joint committee comprising members from both the opposition and treasury benches to discuss the issue with high-ups in Islamabad.

The members said Balochistan was facing financial crisis due to lack of funds and the provincial government was unable to implement the Rs6 billion public sector development programme announced in the budget.

They said unfair distribution of resources under the NFC award was the root cause of financial problems of the province.

The legislators said the lack of funds forced the provincial government to get loans and overdraft from banks to carry out development projects, adding that the government paid Rs556 million as interest to banks annually.

Discussion on the motion tabled by members of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party will continue when the session resumes on Tuesday.

Speaking on an adjournment motion tabled by members of the National Party, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Mir Abdur Rehman Jamali said no case of dengue fever had been reported in the province.

He, however, said the health department had taken preventive measures.

But Dr Shama Ishaq said the health department had taken no steps to check the spread of the dengue fever.