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

QUETTA, June 18: Balochistan Senior Minister Maulana Abdul Wasey has said that a grant of Rs3 billion announced by the prime minister was not enough to resolve the financial crisis.

Speaking at a press conference along with Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd here on Wednesday after meeting the prime minister in Islamabad, he said that Balochistan needed more funds for its development.

He said the Centre owed Balochistan Rs600 billion on account of gas royalty. He urged the federal government to pay all dues so that the province could overcome its financial crisis.

However, he said, for the first time Islamabad had taken grievances of

Balochistan seriously and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had promised to make efforts for solving the financial crisis.

He said that the delegation from Balochistan had taken the prime minister into confidence about the financial crisis faced by the province, adding that this meeting was different from the meetings held in the past

Referring to the National Finance Commission award, the senior minister reiterated the demand that resources should be distributed on the basis of backwardness, besides population and area. He said Balochistan had never been given its due share in national resources.

Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd said that the federal government had released Rs1 billion immediately out of Rs8.5 billion announced by the president for the rehabilitation of flood affected people in the province.

He said that the federal government would also soon release Rs3 billion of the Uch Gas Field.

He expected that the federal government would either write off or convert the Rs19 billion owed by the Balochistan government on account of overdraft.