PESHAWAR, March 9: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani on Wednesday described as an encouraging gesture a suggestion made by President Pervez Musharraf that provinces should be given 50 per cent resources under the National Finance Commission award.

He was talking to a delegation of union nazims of district Charsadda which called on him at the CM secretariat. Mr Durrani said that he was working on a three-pronged strategy for poverty alleviation, agriculture sector development and overall economic boost.

"Once we succeed in arranging water for the barren lands in southern districts, it would provide jobs to the jobless, help increase agricultural output, reduce poverty and lead the province towards economic growth," Mr Durrani said.

He said that his government was generating resources for use in public welfare schemes and the province's development. He said poverty was the main hurdle in the development of the province where people's majority lived below the poverty line.

"The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government has developed a strategy to improve the situation. It has brought down the crime graph and improved the law and order situation," he said.

He said that various elements had ganged up against his government but they failed to destabilize it, adding that "my government has been enjoying good relations with all political entities".

Upholding of merit, protection of Islamic ideology and Islamic values and people's welfare were objectives to which the MMA government was committed, he said, adding that it had provided a platform for waging a struggle for provincial rights and correcting social imbalances.

He said that it was his government's agenda to serve people without any political consideration. The developmental strategy ensured a share for all areas with backward areas receiving more "because they were kept backward on political grounds in the past".

He declared that the MMA government would do justice to all without prejudice. He claimed that the MMA government had changed the style of governance, brining it in consonance with the people's aspirations.

"My government has set a new example by doing away with the culture of deceiving people and making promises without fulfilling them. The MMA government has the courage to call a spade a spade," he said. "There is no mismatch between what the MMA-led government says and acts." He assured that his government would never shake people's confidence.