Provinces failed to discharge constitutional obligations: Fehmida

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Fehmida Mirza on Thursday pointed out that the Centre had transferred trillions of rupees to the federating units in the aftermath of 7th NFC Award during the last one decade but the provinces had failed to discharge their constitutional obligations.

She raised questions about who was responsible for the wasteful expenditures as the NFC bound them to utilize 10 percent resources to bring the less-developed areas at par with the developed areas but District Badin was still getting contaminated water in the 21st Century.

“Pakistan is state of Federation not confederation, but in the aftermath of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the provinces failed to discharge their constitutional obligations on account of providing education, health facilities and bringing less developed areas at par with developed areas despite getting trillions of rupees additional resources under the 7th NFC Award,” Fehmida Mirza said while talking to a select group of reporters here at her office on Thursday. She also raised questions about sequencing of the NFC Award and the 18th Constitutional Amendment, where resources were transferred under the NFC Award first and then responsibilities were transferred through the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

In the aftermath of the 7th NFC Award, the share of provinces jumped up by over 10 percent in one go, so their share jacked up from Rs642 billion per annum from 2009-10 to Rs2,519 billion in 2019-20. In totality, trillions of rupees were transferred but provision of education, health, sports and food security situation deteriorated in Pakistan during the last 10 years.

She suggested that cooperative federalism was the only way forward where everyone must discharge responsibility within the ambit of the Constitution. She mentioned the Article 25-A and other articles such as 37 and 38 and said that the Constitution provides clear-cut roadmap for the State but the existing structure of State was becoming dysfunctional at an accelerated pace.

Fehmida Mirza pointed out that despite getting a major chunk of resources through the NFC Award, the provinces did not bother to constitute the Provincial Finance Commissions (PFCs) in the last one decade. She said that the Badin district was facing acute difficulties on the development front but the Centre did not have resources to bring it at par with the developed areas. She said that the Centre was left with no other option but to seek loans to meet its other obligations after transferring major chunk to the provinces under the NFC mechanism.