June 19, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 14, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 18: Balochistan will get Rs3 billion as gas royalty under an agreement reached between the Oil and Gas Development Corporation and the Uch Power Limited on Wednesday, it was officially announced.

The agreement was hammered out by a committee appointed a day earlier by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to resolve the issue of payment of royalty on the Uch gas field to the Balochistan government within 24 hours.

The prime minister on Tuesday announced Rs3 billion from the prime minister’s own grant after a Balochistan delegation, led by Chief Minister Aslam Raisani, met the prime minister and informed him of the grave financial situation the province faced. The delegation sought financial help from the federal government so that the provincial government could present its annual budget.

Except for Balochistan, three other provinces announced their budgets on June 16. After the bailout from Centre, the Balochistan government is scheduled to announce the provincial budget on June 21.

The Deputy Chairman of Senate, Jan Mohammad Jamali, had shaken the floor of the house on Tuesday by saying that he foresaw dismemberment of the country if provinces were not granted autonomy as Balochistan had no resources even to present its own budget.

He told the house that despite having resources, smaller provinces, especially Balochistan and NWFP, had no right to use their own resources.

Last week, the prime minister had announced a number of steps to bail out Balochistan. These included Rs640 million for electrification of Noshki and Dalbandin, Rs340 million for supply of gas to Sohrab and Rs360 million for supply of gas to Noshki under the People’s Works Programme.