KARACHI, Jan 10: In the seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, Sindh would press for allocations on the basis of revenue generation and its percentage in each province, rather than on population alone.

This was stated by the provincial Advisor on Finance, Aftab Shaikh, here on Friday. He said that he would also like to invite the finance ministers of Balochistan, the NWFP and even Punjab to evolve a joint strategy vis-a-vis the NFC Award and to oppose deduction at sources without seeking the concerned province’s consent.

Mr Shaikh said that the present formula had created bitterness and misgivings among the provinces which must be rectified by providing the smaller provinces their due shares in income.

He revealed that the issue was also discussed during the first meeting of the Sindh cabinet on Thursday and it was unanimously agreed that Sindh should demand 70 per cent of federal divisible pool, which should be reflective of the province’s share in income generation.

He pointed out that besides Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan were also seeking a just and correct propounding of the NFC Award and demanding release of the shares from the divisible pool as per the already determined instalment without any reduction and without the provinces begging for it.

Mr Shaikh said that at source deduction in the provinces’ funds should be done away with. The deductions must be determined first after taking the provinces into confidence, he added.

He said that the basic formula for the seventh NFC Award should be based on income generation and not the population alone. The priority, therefore, should be on revenue generation and its percentage in each province, poverty, population and area, he said. The province which earns more should get more, he added.

The seventh NFC Award, he said, should be based on principles.