Sindh's share in gas royalty surged by 40.48 percent in 2008-09: Assembly told

Sindh Assembly was told on Tuesday that Sindh's share in gas royalty under NFC Award had surged by 40.48 percent to Rs 23.564 billion in the fiscal year 2008-09 as compared to the corresponding year. Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah told the house that the province's actual receipts under the head of royalty on natural gas had increased by Rs 6.791 billion in 2008-09 as compared to Rs 16.773 billion in 2007-08.
He said the federal transfers (direct and indirect transfer) were based on budge estimates, revised estimates and actual expenditures in the last five years from 2003-04 to 2008-09. Murad Ali Shah was responding to legislators' queries during Sindh Assembly's session. The session was chaired by Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khohro.
Responding to queries, he said the federal transfers from divisible pool under the head of sales tax also witnessed significant increase of Rs 4.743 billion to Rs 21.77 billion in 2008-09 against Rs 17.589 billion in 2007-08. Sindh received Rs 7.859 billion in 2008-09 as royalty on crude oil, which was up by Rs 5.48 billion during the last five years from Rs 2.379 billion in 2003-04, he pointed out.
Collection of indirect taxes from Sindh, Murad said, stood at Rs 19.89 billion in 2008-09 as compared to Rs 8.664 billion in 2003-04, depicting a rise of Rs 11.226 billion in last five years. He said the federal transfers of direct taxes reached Rs 47.152 billion in 2008-09 from Rs 10.709 billion in 2003-04, showing a 340 percent growth.
The minister told the house that province's share in indirect taxes from federal transfers had increased by 125 percent to Rs 119.155 billion in 2008-09 from Rs 53.034 billion in 2003-04. To a question, he said he had no information about the loans extended by Zari Taraqiati Bank to Sindh's growers from 2007 to 2009, as the matter was related to federal government. To another query, Murad Ali said Hesco had claimed Rs 14.00 billion as outstanding till June 30, 2009 against Sindh government's power consumption, which, he termed, as "exaggerated/inflated" figure.
He said Sindh government had rejected the 'inflated' bill of electricity by Hesco and filed a petition in Sindh High Court in this connection. "The honourable High Court of Sindh has granted status-quo on 10.03-2010, which is still intact and operative," the minister concluded. He informed the house that there were total 567 schemes for transport and communication, which were approved in 2008-09 and Rs 9 billion funds were allocated for their execution.
He said the Rs 6,628 million were allocated for 362 ongoing schemes and Rs 2,372 million for 205 new schemes. He also told the house about the present status of Khushal Pakistan Programme (KKP-II) and People's Work Programme. The house adopted a resolution presented by Sindh Minister for Culture, Sassui Palijo to pay tribute to Sindh's great poet and saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai on his 267th death anniversary.
Palijo said the Latif's poetry was much related to the present day circumstance of Pakistan, adding that his message was strong enough to enable help the society fight extremism and religious fanaticism. Other legislators also expressed their views regarding Shah Latif's message of peace and Islamic teachings, saying his verses were immortal in essence. They said he was not only a poet but also a saint with knowledge of Islam and preached the people about protection of human rights. They said he had taught the people to refrain from polytheism- the greatest sin in Islam, and stick to the teachings of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) to lead a better life. Later, the speaker adjourned the session till Thursday.