PESHAWAR: Federal government under ‘AGN Qazi Formula’ owes a huge amount of Rs 1,510 billion to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in head of net hydel profit (NHP), whereas, arrears amounting to Rs. 6 billion on account of province’s own generated electricity being provided to the national grid, are also outstanding.
This was stated during a meeting related to federation held here at Chief Minister’s House with KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the chair.
The meeting was briefed in detail about the outstanding dues of the province against the federal government and other related matters.
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Advisor to Chief Minister for Finance Muzammil Aslam, Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, Additional Chief Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary Finance Aamir Sultan Tareen, Secretary Energy & Power, Nisar Ahmed and other relevant officials attended the meeting.
It was further informed that administrative merger of the erstwhile FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province had been completed, but financial integration is still incomplete due to which, the provincial government is facing financial problems.
It was also told that the province is not getting its due share in various federal transfers due to which the provincial government is faced with a major challenge of financial crunches adding that with the merger of erstwhile FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the population of the province has increased but the share of the province in NFC Award has not been increased accordingly which needs to be addressed to enable the province to get its due share.
The meeting was told that as per the existing population after merger of erstwhile FATA, the NFC share of the province stands 19.64% of the total but the province is getting only 14.62%. So far, the province has been provided with only 103 billion rupees out of committed Rs. 500 billion, under the Accelerated Implemen-tation Program of newly merged districts.
The Chief Minister, on this occasion, directed the authorities concerned to chalk out strategy for taking up the financial matters of the province with federation adding that all the required documents along with plan of action should be finalised within a month.
He made it clear that all available legal and constitutional forums would be approached in order to get the arrears and due rights of the province.
He also directed to constitute a team of experts for effectively taking up the matter with federal government. In case, the issue is not resolved by federation, all available options will be utilized for getting due share of the province including knocking the door of courts, he said and added that reputable Law Firms would also be hired for this purpose.
Later, chairing a meeting of the Board of Revenue, the Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur directed the quarters concerned for necessary amendments in the relevant law in order to ensure protection of women’s rights in inheritance.
He also directed for pragmatic steps for completing phase-I of the ongoing land record computerization project by June 2024 and phase-II by December 2024, adding that deployment of required necessary staff at districts level should also be ensured well before the process of land record computerization is completed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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