Peshawar(PR):Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to adopt aggressive strategy including launching of legal offensive to pressing the center for the early formulation of the ninth National Finance Commission (NFC) Award being the constitutional obligation to gape up the unjustified delay instead of maintaining defensive positions against the federation in wake of continued endeavors of center to carry on the seventh NFC award made in 2008.
It is decided that Finance Minister, NFC committee members including Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, consultants, lawyers, finance secretary, additional and deputy secretaries will have to contacts their counterparts of the other provinces and center on weekly basis and constantly inform the Chief Minister of the developments.
The survey report assigned to KP govt has been prepared ahead of time so that no argument left this time. The Planning, Environment and Development department has also been given the task to support the Finance Department for the first time in the history of the province to achieve a sure success in this regard.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister Muzaffar Said Advocate called in the Advocate General KP Abdul Latif Yousafzai at former’s office in Civil Secretariat Peshawar wherein all legal aspects to achieve the new NFC Award and other KP rights and resources were taken into stock and necessary decisions were taken as well.
Earlier the Finance Minister chaired a meeting that was attended by Secretary Finance Ali Raza Bhutta, Prof. Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, former senior bureaucrats of the province and others to discuss the issues and problems about NFC and to raise with the center of this crucial provincial case effectively. Suggestions and recommendations thus putforth were taken for detailed consideration.
It was decided to resubmit the survey paper sought by the federal government, contact the other provinces to and center to justify the case and show concern on unnecessory delay by the center
Muzaffar Said Advocate thanked NFC provincial committee for the support, consensus and preparation regarding the new award.
However, he lamented that the center instead of ensuring the provinces of rights, resources and needs, including the NFC, made every sensitive issue a victim to political considerations. He said NFC award and other provincial rights have become matter of life and death for our people which otherwise costed national interest and unity.
He regretted that center is bent on continuing the old NFC award for next year, though the award was formulated before the eighteenth amendment, abolition of the concurrent list and the financial burden increased thousand times on the provinces after the transfer of portfolios to the provinces.
Under the seventh NFC award the center recieved 42.55% funds, Punjab 51.74 percent, Sindh 24.55 percent, KP 14.62 percent and Balochistan 9.09 percent of the total Award funds while it was decided in the last NFC meeting in Islamabad that after the 18th Amendment and provincial autonomy as well as in view of National Action plan, foreign aid sustainable development goals and the potential impact of CPEC, the new award would be formed accordingly.
But then the matter could not be advanced though foreign and local loans obtained by federation exceeded Rs 800 billion that were thousand times more than 2008, besides vivid increase in inflation rate and price hike. Similarly besides the outstanding arrears of hydro net profit, payment to KP govt of the oil and gas cess of 29 billion and 119 billion under the 1991 water sharing agreement also remained pending.
Likewise prolong stay of the million of Afghan refugees and IDPs in the province, natural disasters, terrorism and security problems caused increase in poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment manifold that incurred immense financial losses to the province but no remedial measures were taken by the center or financial packages given to KP govt yet.
