PESHAWAR, Dec 17: The NWFP Assembly on Wednesday rejected the population being the sole criteria for distribution of development funds among the provinces. Instead, it underlined the need for making poverty as the basis.

Speaking on the growing unemployment and price-hike in the province, Abdul Akbar Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians said the NWFP would not be catching up with other provinces, if things continued to be handled in accordance with the same old laws.

According to the financial agencies, he pointed out, the NWFP was the poorest among the four federating units.

Mr Khan demanded that the federal government should deregulate the electricity, which is the sole production of the NWFP.

He complained that the province had not been given a single penny out of Rs160 billion allocated for the federal government’s annual development programme. He alleged that the prime minister had doled out millions to Balochistan which showed that he was premier of Balochistan, not Pakistan.

Anwar Kamal Khan of the PML-N called upon the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government to take concrete steps to overcome the rising price-hike. He said the poor wanted to get their children admitted to schools, but they could not.

He said if a labourer, who earned Rs3,000 a month, got infected, he would be unable to get himself vaccinated which would cost him Rs1,500. Neither the poor could get formal education nor could they afford health-care for their children, he deplored.

Dr Mohammad Salim of the Swabi Qaumi Mahaz said it had become difficult for the ordinary citizens to earn a livelihood for a sizable household, arrange education and cure, manage a shelter, etc.

Qazi Mohammad Asad Khan of the PML-Q said there were many causes of poverty. He said that only 13 per cent of the land was irrigated in his constituency, while for the rest of the area they could not install any tube-wells.

The donor agencies were opposed to the new irrigation schemes, because they would ultimately dry up the watertable and deprive people of drinking water sources, he added.

He said Pakistan was a signatory to the World Trade Organization and it was bound to implement the WTO charter in 2005. But, he added, being a Third World country Pakistan could not even manufacture a good needle.

Makhdoom Murid Kazim of the PPP (Sherpao) said most of the land in his district was barren and they had no alternative sources of irrigation. This situation had also caused multiplication of poverty, he added.

He said poor people were constrained to purchase jobs in different departments where vacancies were auctioned.

QUESTION-ANSWER HOUR: During the question-answer hour, Qazi Asad asked the government to explain its transfer and posting policy. He alleged that people greased palms at every secretariat to get themselves transferred.