ISLAMABAD, May 30: Finances for the population programme will be transferred to the provinces from the next fiscal year (2002-03) to implement the government’s devolution of power plan.

This decision was taken at a high-level inter-provincial meeting of the ministries of population welfare and finance here on Thursday. The minister for population welfare, Dr Attiya Inayatullah, took the chair.

The meeting decided that the finance division would issue one-line budget allocation for the population welfare departments from the next fiscal year as part of the overall public sector development programme (PSDP).

According to the decision, the provincial secretaries of the population welfare departments “shall act as principal accounting officers for their respective population welfare departments as per provincial rules.”

Dr Inayatullah, while emphasizing the need for ensuring smooth transfer of responsibilities, said the provincial finance departments as well as respective AG’s should ensure that no delays occurred in the disbursement of salaries to the employees and grants to carry out other operations of population programme after switching over of accounts from the Centre to the provinces.

She said any impediments, if encountered during the implementation of the population welfare programme, would be removed by the provincial governments expeditiously by ensuring timely release of funds.

The finance department will monitor the release of funds from the federal government down to the district population welfare departments.

On her recommendation, it was also decided that a committee, comprising the federal and provincial representatives, would be set up with a view to removing anomalies and bottlenecks that might emerge in the wake of de-federalization of the population programme.

It was observed that a close coordination between the health and population welfare departments was required for complementing the services provided by each of them.

Among others, the meeting was attended by Finance Secretary- General Moin Afzal and Accountant-General Iftikhar A. Khan.