KARACHI, Jan 28: The Sindh Assembly members on Tuesday rejected the existing NFC award and demanded constitution of a new National Finance Commission to give a fresh award, based on revenue generation and not on the basis of population.

Despite deep-rooted political differences, both the opposition and the treasury benches were unanimous in calling the current NFC award unjust and responsible for creating a sense of alienation among the people of Sindh.

At the end of the day’s discussion, the Speaker asked Leader of the Opposition Nisar Khuhro and Home Minister Sardar Ahmad to draft a common formulation for the consideration of the House on Thursday.

Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar did not attend Tuesday’s proceedings.

The debate was set in motion by Akhtar Mehdi Bilgirami of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement when he moved a resolution on what was the private members day, asking the provincial government to approach the federal government for an expeditious, just and fair decision on the NFC award acceptable to Sindh.

Although Nisar Khuhro was agitated over the fact that the Speaker had not convened the requisitioned session for which motions pertaining to NFC award, and a host of other issues were submitted, he took part in discussions. However, he said that the ruling coalition appeared to be more interested in taking credit for raising issues rather than taking practical steps to solve them.

The legislators criticized the federal government for allocating itself a much bigger slice than it deserved and said it had doled out very little to the provinces.

They were of the view that the strategy adopted by the federal government for apportionment of national resources between the centre and the provinces was skewed. It failed miserably to perceive a co-relation between the generation of resources by the provinces and the allocations made by the federal government to the provinces on the basis of the NFC recommendations.

This irrationality, they maintained, called for a rational approach by the NFC.

Those who had signed the NFC award in 1997, a day before the then newly-elected provincial assembly was to be ushered in, were also criticized by the House.

It was pointed out that the anticipated share of Sindh was Rs173.209 billion from the divisible pool in four years, starting from 1997, as projected by the NFC. But the province actually received Rs104.472 billion, a shortfall of Rs68.737 billion.

It was the contention of the legislators that under the provisions of law, provinces had little role to play in determining the terms of reference for including or excluding taxes from the proposed divisible pool or approving or disapproving the award.

Some of them were of the view that as a matter of principle, all taxes, direct or indirect, including duties, should form the divisible pool. Any deviation would generate bitter criticism. They noted that the federal government had provided very limited fiscal powers to the provinces.

The legislators emphasized that criterion for the apportionment of revenues between the federation and provinces needed to be discussed threadbare and reviewed.

Saifullah Dharejo of the PPP called for rising above party politics and said Sindh should get finances on the basis of its revenue generation.

Saeeda Malik concurred with Mr Dharejo’s contentions and pointed out the problems being faced by Sindh due to continuing influx of people from other provinces. She said if the province got its due share, it would be able to improve the law and order situation.

Dr Sikandar Mahendro of the PPP spoke on similar lines and emphasized that distribution of resources played a vital role in removing socio-economic distortions which generated a sense of alienation.

He also referred to the gradual decline in the centre’s share in the divisible pool. However, in 1996 the process was “mysteriously reversed” by a non-representative government which agreed to reducing the provinces’ share from 80 per cent to 37.5 per cent. As such, he said, Sindh had suffered a loss of Rs60 billion.

Education Minister Irfanullah Marwat termed the distortion in the NFC award a matter of life and death for the province and cited figures to establish how Sindh had been deprived of its due share from the income it generated.

Dr Hamida Khuhro said the issue was fundamental to the progress of Sindh and said that over the years centre had taken away the taxes which were the prerogative of the provinces. She said that Sindh had the first right on the revenue it generated.

Ayaz Soomro of the PPP cautioned against the consequences of unjust distribution of resources and reminded of the events that led to the emergence of Bangladesh.

As both the opposition and the treasury wanted to table a joint resolution for approval by the House, Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah permitted them to do so on Thursday.