PESHAWAR, Nov 15: The NWFP government has instructed its departments  and the district governments to pay their electricity bills on priority basis, in an attempt to avoid a deduction from its federal share in the profit which it gets from the hydel projects, official sources said.

“District governments have been instructed to attach the highest priority to clearance of electricity bills to avoid at source deduction,”  the sources added quoting an official document containing instructions. 

The instructions were deemed necessary in view of the Rs710 million deduction made last fiscal year from the NWFP’s federal share by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).

Though the Wapda deducted the amount from the province’s net hydel profit’s share only after getting approval from the chief executive, Gen Pervez Musharraf, the move apparently went against the recommendations  of the 5th National Finance Commission (NFC) award, presently in its 6th year of application.

The government took the precautionary step to avoid repeating the bad experience of the previous year, a senior government official said.

The district governments, according to sources, have been given 40 per cent of their total annual budget  for the 2002-03 to cover their non-development expenses other than the salaries of their employees.

According to the instructions, the district governments would be required to pay the bills from the money given to them under the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC).

The instructions have also been described as a step to ensure efficient financial management at the grassroots level.

The provincial government and Wapda are still at the loggerheads over  the issue of the arrears payable by the various departments of the government.

The Wapda still has a claim of around Rs1 billion on the NWFP government departments.