Intervention by presidency on Monday brought the provinces to an agreeable position on the Sixth National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. At a meeting in the presidency, representatives of the provinces gave President Pervez Musharraf full mandate that he could resolve the award controversy on their behalf. Sources said that provinces' representatives agreed that President's decision for distribution of resources from the divisible pool would be acceptable to them.
Monday's meeting could be termed as a serious attempt to resolve the issue before budget 2005-06 announcement. According to sources, the provinces welcomed President's move, which could finally secure additional resources for them.
They said that provinces' representatives reiterated their respective stance and demanded solution of the problem on top priority.
After the meeting, Punjab finance minister Dareshak said that the provinces had agreed to accept the decision of the President. He was optimistic that NFC issue would be over soon.
He said: "The President heard the point of view of each province very patiently and assured all the parties that they would get due share from NFC award."
NWFP finance minister Sirajul Haq also had almost the same views. He said that President's intervention could resolve the controversy. He added that NWFP wanted early announcement of the new NFC Award.
Siraj said: "I told the meeting that NWFP was facing acute financial constraints and the new NFC Award could help it come out of the situation".
The chief ministers and finance ministers of the provinces, adviser to prime minister on finance, Dr Salman Shah, state minister for Finance, Omer Ayub Khan, Secretary Finance, Navid Ahsan, and Central Board of Revenue (CBR) chairman Abdullah Yousuf attended the meeting.
The President and the Prime Minister assured the participants that the government wants to see an amicable solution to the NFC problem so that each province could have more financial resources for their development schemes.