PESHAWAR, April 1: The NWFP government fears at-source deduction by the federal government in the provincial share in view of the likely failure of the ongoing reconciliatory drive to settle the dispute of power dues between the Wapda and the provincial government departments, official sources told Dawn.
“One can only hope for the best as no progress has so far been made as far as the NWFP government’s stand on at-source deduction is concerned,” the sources said.
Officials involved in the reconciliation drive believed if the provincial government departments failed to prove their argument against Wapda, then there would be greater chances that the province would experience at-source deduction in the federal divisible pool by the federal government.
The sources said the federal authorities had recently directed the provincial government to reconcile its accounts with Wapda authorities to avoid at-source deduction.
The Wapda claims that over Rs800 million arrears have accumulated against the provincial government departments, their attached wings and semi-autonomous bodies.
The provincial government departments, on the other hand, have also lodged claims against the Wapda on account of excess billing.
“The reconciliation drive is not likely to yield desired results for both the sides, hence, the chances of at-source deduction by the federal government to recover Wapda arrears from the province(s) cannot be ruled out,” said an official involved in the exercise.
The sources said beginning 1993-94 Wapda had recovered over Rs7.2 billion from the NWFP through at-source ded-uction during the last nine years.
An amount of Rs149.7 million was deducted at-source in 1993-94, Rs572.9 million in 1994-95, Rs1.1 billion in 1995-96, Rs2.1 billion in 1996-97, Rs277 million in 1998-99, Rs585 million in 1999-2000, Rs510 million in 2000-01 and Rs1.86 billion during 2001-02.
During the current financial year Rs89 million have been deducted at-source so far to recover Wapda arrears from the provincial government departments.
Officials involved in the reconciliation drive do not attach hope with the ongoing reconciliation drive.
“No body — either Wapda or the NWFP government departments — are taking the exercise seriously,” said the source.