KP Assembly demands new NFC Award

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday passed a resolution unanimously, calling for a new National Finance Commission (NFC) Award where the federal government and provinces must allocate an extra three percent share for the merged districts of the province.

The joint resolution, moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member Provincial Assembly Ajmal Khan, also asked the federal government to allocate and release the arrears of the KP under the 10-year development plan and share as a frontline province in the war on terror fund.

The two-page resolution stated that at the time of the merger of the then tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the special commission led by the late Sartaj Aziz had decided that three percent share from the federal divisible pool and Rs 100 billion per annum for 10 years would be allocated for the development of merged districts of the province.

It said that since 2018, the federal government had to pay Rs 700 billion to KP as per Rs 100billion under the AIP or Accelerated Implementation Plan, but the province received only Rs 132.1 billion till 2024 while the federal government and other provinces had not given three percent share for merged districts in the national resources.

After the merger of tribal areas into KP, the province should have been paid Rs 360 billion till 2024.After the passage of the resolution, members from treasury and opposition benches, while speaking on the assembly floor, said that former tribal areas were deprived of development works and economic stability for decades and it was believed that the backward and under-privileged merged districts would be brought on a par with rest of the country through special funds and projects.

The PTI lawmakers Ajmal Khan and Aurangzeb Khan, Minister Aftab Alam, Special Assistant Anwar Zeb Khan and Awami National Party MPA Nisar Baz Khan asked the provincial government to raise the issue of the merged district funds with the federal government at various forums.

The lawmakers from newly merged districts warned of staging a protest in front of the parliament in Islamabad if the federal government did not fulfill the demands made through the resolution.

The assembly witnessed a heated debate over the objections of the KP governor to the legislation for the nomination of advisers and special assistants to the chief minister as head of the House Committee.

After a long discussion, Speaker Babar Saleem Swati constituted a Select Committee of the House that would thoroughly review and discuss the issue of advisers and special assistants as head of the Standing Committee.

The ruling parties MPAs, including former Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and Munir Hussain Laghmani, said that unelected advisers and special assistants to chief minister could not become head of the House Committee as it was against the Constitution.

Minister for Higher Education Meena Khan Afridi opposed the nomination and notification of political figures as members of the Senate and Syndicate of various universities in KP. He termed the step as unconstitutional and a futile exercise on the part of the KP governor.