September 25, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 24, 1429

LARKANA, Sept 24: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said on Wednesday that the federal government had been approached to help the provincial government overcome budget deficit by convening a session of the National Finance Commission (NFC) and reviewing the NFC award.

Talking to journalists after speaking at a function for distributing offer letters for primary school teachers’ jobs among more than 100 people, the chief minister said that poverty and revenue generation should also be taken into consideration as yardsticks to decide the NFC award instead of population alone.

He was optimistic that the federal government would consider the proposal in larger national interest keeping in view the priorities of smaller provinces and to bail them out them from financial problems.

Despite financial constraints the Sindh government had allocated huge amount for health and education sectors to improve facilities and elevate standard of education in the province, he said.

He said that at present 17,000 teachers had been recruited and 16,000 more would be appointed in future with financial support of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

He disclosed that both the World Bank and the European Union had extended 40 million Euro and $40 million aid for raising the standard of education. Besides distributing text books free of cost among students, the girl students would be extended scholarships to encourage female education, he said.

To a question, the chief minister said the lecturers and doctors who had passed tests conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission would be given appointment orders just after the Eid and announced the establishment of Management Sciences Colleges in Larkana and Nawabshah.

The chief minister accompanied by Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro later visited the Chandka Medical College Hospital and inquired about the health of Ghulam Ali Leghari, the SHO of Shahdadkot and Pandhi Khan Brohi police constable who were injured in a gunbattle between police and tribesmen of Jamali and Shahlyani tribes at Nurpur police post on Monday.

He then went to Noor Muhammed Korkani village and offered condolence to the family of late Muhabt Rind, the SHO of Imam Bakhsh Jamali police station, who was killed in the Nurpur incident.