Centre accused of delaying NFC announcement

PESHAWAR: Provincial Finance Minister Muzaffar Said on Tuesday accused Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar of misleading the federal government on the matter of announcing the 9th National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

He was briefing newsmen at the Civil Secretariat after the inauguration of the Media Cell at the Information Department.

Muzaffar Said further said the provincial NFC committee discussed the ‘tactics’ being used by the federal government to delay the announcement of the NFC award.

Muzaffar Said added that in-time announcement of the NFC award was a constitutional obligation, but the federal government was employing ‘delaying tactics.’

He claimed that the federal government was withholding the announcement of the NFC award on a number of pretexts.

The minister said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was facing the threat of terrorism and militancy, but the federal government was not fulfilling its financial obligations to enable the province to meet its requirements.

The minister said the provincial government had decided to initiate consultations with other provinces on the NFC award so that a concert effort could ensure to make the federal announce the award.

He said that it had also been decided that President Mamnoon Hussain would also be informed about “this violation of the Constitution.”

The minister maintained that the provincial government would also approach the parliamentarians to inform them of the pressing needs of the province and the delaying tactics of the federal government in the announcing the 9th NFC Award that has been due since 2015.

He accused Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar of misleading the federal government on the issue of the announcing the NFC award.

The minister believed that the federal government was usurping the rights of the provinces by not announcing the NFC award.