Opposition debates NFC award, NHP issues in KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: The opposition lawmakers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday debated the issues of delay in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and release of the amount of net hydel profit to the province.

Initiating the debate, Khushdil Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) said that under Article 106 of the Constitution the announcement of NFC award after every five years was mandatory for fair distribution of resources among the federating unites.

He questioned as to why the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government in the centre was reluctant to announce the award. He said it was ironic that despite having government in the centre and the provinces the PTI has yet to provide Khyber Pakhtunkhwa its due right of hydel net profit and NFC award.

Inayatullah Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) said the 9th NFC award was pending and the net hydel profit amount has not being released in time even though the PTI was in power in the centre and three provinces.

He demanded announcement of the NFC award at the earliest. He argued that the NFC award needs revision by reducing the resource distribution on population basis from the current 82.5 percent to 60 percent by increasing the ratio of distribution on the basis of poverty and backwardness.

He asked the provincial government to properly prepare its case to get due share in the wake of the increase in the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after Fata's merger with it. He asked the ruling PTI to ensure allocation of three percent share for the tribal districts and one percent for the province on account of its suffering in the war against terror.

The JI lawmaker from Upper Dir questioned the figure of pending amount as KP's share on account of net hydel profit. "As per the ministers' version, Rs20 billion has been released and Rs35 billion was pending but according to the AGN Kazi formula the actual amount is Rs100 billion annually with increase per annum," he argued.

Ahmad Karim Kundi of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) lashed out at the treasury benches for not taking the assembly business seriously. He said that despite having the PTI government in the centre, the party failed to secure the pending amount of net hydel profit and NFC award for the province.

"The forces believing in a strong centre always created hurdles for the federating units and creation of Bangladesh was the result of such behaviour," he maintained.

Ahmad Kundi said that only democratic set-ups ensured consensus on the NFC award. "The PPP and its allies had the credit for giving rights to the provinces, including the 18th Amendment that increased the share of the federating units," he added.

Maulana Lutfur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha and Waqar Ahmad Khan of the PML-N complained about the PTI government's disinterest towards solution of problems facing the public.

They said the opposition parties were ready to extend support to the ruling PTI in achieving the rights of the province as they did so in the past also but the government was not serious about it. They wanted to know how the province would be developed if it failed to get resources from the centre.

Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan and Food Minister Qalandar Khan Lodhi, however, assured the opposition MPAs that there was no reason to be concerned as the province would soon get its due share in the resources from the federal government. They pointed out that the NFC has already been constituted and two meetings held to finalize the award. The ministers said Rs20 billion of the net hydel profit have been released to the province and the remaining Rs35 billion would be paid during the current financial year.

Ministers Sultan Mohammad Khan and Qalandar Lodhi said the provincial government had done its preparations and would strongly plead its case. They said that according to the AGN Kazi formula, the share of KP from the net hydel profit stood at Rs128 billion and the issue would be taken up with the centre.