Three federal ministers accused of plotting against NWFP government

The NWFP government on Sunday charged three federal cabinet members from the NWFP with hatching conspiracies against the interest of the province and depriving it of the constitutional right in the head of net-profit on hydel power generation.
The three federal ministers are: Political Affairs Minister Amir Muqaam, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Saleem Saifullah Khan, and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao. Amir Muqaam also heads the provincial chapter of PML-Q in the province. All these ministers hail from Frontier province.
"These ministers in a meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inciting them to deny granting of constitutional right to the province, depriving it of the payment of outstanding net profit in head of hydropower generation," said NWFP Finance Minister Shah Raz Khan, flanked by provincial Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai, while addressing post-budget press conference here at the Cabinet Room of the provincial Secretariat. The administrative secretaries of the provincial departments were also present on the occasion.
The provincial ministers attributed the lack of financial resources of the province to the denial of the federal government to pay the outstanding amount in head of hydel power generation to the province. They said the provincial government had projected a big amount of Rs 79 billion for development of the province.
Shah Raz Khan said the provincial government has framed a special development programme in the wake of the payment of Rs 110 billion as per decision of the Arbitration Tribunal.
Under the programme, Rs 50 billion would be distributed among all districts on the bases of backwardness, poverty, population and necessity, while Rs 25 billion has been sanctioned for the construction of First Lift Irrigation Scheme. In first instance, Rs 5 billion would be allocated for the project, whose completion would bring a vast area under irrigation to make province self-sufficient in wheat production.
The provincial minister said that in case of the payment of net-profit, the province would not be required payments in the name of subvention and grant in aid. "We should be paid our constitutional right to educate our children, equipped hospitals with facilities and improve the standard of roads in the province.
Shah Raz Khan said the provincial government would spend the payment of outstanding amount on projects to increase revenue of the province in future. Under the Sarhad Hydel Development Organisation (Shydo), he said that irrigation system would be improved and power station would be established to improve financial position of the province.
He said the payment of net-profit on hydel power generation and central excise duty on tobacco could help usher in the era of development in NWFP.
In response to a question about lawlessness, NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai the province is short of police force, which has been taken with President General Pervez Musharraf by Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani in the meeting of National Security Council (NSC) held on June 4, 2007.
The President Musharraf, he informed the newsmen had pledged assistance in recruitment of 7,000 police personnel out of 15,000 promised by former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
Similarly, he said 20 armoured police carriers (APC) have also put at the disposal of NWFP and platoons of Frontier Constabulary would also be repatriated to the province.
The repatriation of FC platoons is the longstanding demand of the province to deploy it on borders with tribal areas to keep check on the entry of anti-social elements to the settled areas of the province.
Furthermore, he said sophisticated weapons are also being provided to the law-enforcement agencies in the province and bullet-proof jackets worth Rs 75,000 each would be provided to the police personnel.
The provincial finance minister termed the figures shown in the provincial budget realistic approach to the development of the province, saying like past bifurcation of the budget in four categories is once again maintained.
The total outlay is Rs 114.50 billion against total receipt of Rs 109.017 billion, while the deficit is Rs 5.48 billion, he added.
The provincial government, the provincial finance minister said, is due to receive Rs 7.8 billion from the World Bank, which would not only fill the deficit rather would become a surplus budget. The provincial government this year, the minister said has decided to spend 5 percent of the profit earned on the areas producing hydel power, natural gas and oil on their development to eliminate backwardness, poverty and put them on the path of development.