HYDERABAD, Dec 12: Any amendment to the current formula for the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, based on factors other than population, is bound to affect the share of Punjab and increase the share of other provinces, said Sindh’s non-statutory member in NFC and noted economist, Kaiser Bengali.

He was speaking to Dawn at the residence of Zulfikar Halepoto, secretary Sindh Democratic Forum (SDF), here the other day. Besides him, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah is the member of Sindh province as he holds the portfolio of finance minister as well.

He said that perhaps Sindh has not yet formally raised it’s objection over inclusion of Minister of State for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar who is nominated as representative of the federal government by the prime minister. “As far as my knowledge is concerned I think it (objection) has just been conveyed to the federal government because her inclusion could disturb inter-provincial balance while deciding Award in case the non-statutory member has separate voting right”, he said.

“I have sent some queries during my meeting with Sindh government official. I need to know whether every province has equal voting right or every member of NFC will have equal voting right. In case of latter, the balance of NFC could tilt towards Punjab who has its finance minister and a non-statutory member, Saeed Qureshi”, he said. He, however, said that these queries have not been responded to by the Sindh government. “Its not clear as yet and I would speak to the concerned officials again to get a clarification because it is important to know whether member would be voting separate or they would jointly be voting for their respective provinces”, he remarked.

He said that it was also not clarified as yet whether Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani would chair the NFC or not because he holds the finance portfolio while Mr. Shaukat Tareen is just an adviser to him on financial affairs. “All relevant calculations have been made by the Sindh government to argue its case in NFC meeting of which is yet to be held”, he replied to a question whether Sindh government is well-prepared to strongly persuade its case in the NFC meeting.

He said that he had got a picture of relevant issues of NFC from Sindh government officials but when a meeting is convened then pace of such activity would be accelerated. “Entire information of funds would be updated accordingly”, he said.

Mr Bengali maintained that since the government is confronting a serious economic crisis, it was not deemed advisable to press for holding of such meeting but when an improvement is seen in the affairs a meeting would definitely be called for formulating the new Award.

When asked how much benefit Sindh can expect with announcement of new NFC, he replied that it depends how the formula of distribution of funds is decided. “There can be A, B or C formula for deciding new NFC. But one thing is for sure any change in present formula Punjab would get less and other province would get more”, he emphatically stated. He agreed that if collection of revenue is given weightage then it will improve Sindh’s share.

He said that he had designed Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) but he would not run it. He said that criteria for determining entitlement of this monetary grant is based on electronic verification of the person through Nadra’s record.