National Assembly Body Asks FBR To Pay Back Deducted Amount From Naulong Dam's Account

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources on Monday asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to pay Rs. 1,916 million deducted from the account of Naulong Dam

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jul, 2021 ) :The National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources on Monday asked the Federal board of Revenue (FBR) to pay Rs. 1,916 million deducted from the account of Naulong Dam.

The Committee which met with Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur in the Chair also asked the provincial governments of Balochistan and Sindh to pay the outstanding dues of water charges to Hub Dam.

The Committee was informed that Federal Government approved the project of Naulong Dam in 2009. Thereafter all the formalities were fulfilled and when funds were released for the Naulong Dam, the FBR deducted Rs. 1,916 million from the account of Naulong Dam without any legitimate ground and adjusted the amount against the receivables from WAPDA. Consequently, the work of Naulong Dam could not be started. So, an important national project has been delayed.

The representative of FBR was of the view that Naulong Dam was a project of WAPDA. So, the receivables from WAPDA could be deducted from hundreds of accounts of WAPDA. Hence, FBR deducted and received the amount from the account of Naulong Dam. The Standing Committee showed serious displeasure and declared that FBR should not deduct funds from the Public Sector Development Projects.

Moreover, it was informed that Lahore High Court had already directed FBR to return this amount but FBR has taken a new position. According to FBR, now the Sales Tax has been imposed, so, they would adjust the amount deducted from account of Naulong Dam against the sales tax imposed on WAPDA.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Water Resources while briefing the Standing Committee, informed that since funds were once sanctioned for Naulong Dam and same have been deducted by the WAPDA. Hence Ministry of Finance is reluctant to give more funds for this purpose.

The Committee directed the FBR to immediately return these funds to the Naulong Dam project and directed WAPDA to immediately pay its other dues to the FBR.

However, the FBR has also been directed to return the money immediately without waiting for other WAPDA funds.

The Committee was informed that the Hub Dam was built 40 years ago and it was decided that two third of its water would be given to Sindh and one third to Balochistan. It was also decided that cost for the construction of Hub Dam would be paid by Sindh Government and Balochistan Government to WAPDA but both the governments have failed to fulfill their commitments.

In addition, 40 years ago it was decided that the monthly expenditure for the Hub Dam would be Rs. three million out of which Rs. two million would be provided by Sindh and one million by Balochistan but both the governments have paid very negligible amount.

The representatives of the Balochistan government committed that remaining dues would be paid to WAPDA within six months.

No representative of the Sindh Government's Water Board attended the meeting. Therefore, the Committee took stern notice of this and directed the Chairman and other officers of the Water Board to attend the next meeting of the Committee otherwise legal action would be taken against them.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Ali Nawaz Awan, Ch. Shoukat Ali Bhatti, Muhammad Farooq Azam Malik, Ms. Naureen Farooq Ibrahim, Ms. Nuzhat Pathan, Ch. Muhammad Hamid Hameed (through Video Link), Riaz-ul-Haq, Ehsan-ur-Rehman Mazari and Afreen Khan.

Saleh Muhammad, Parliamentary Secretary for Water Resources was also present in the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Chairman, IRSA, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change, Special Secretary, Irrigation Department, Sindh and senior civil officers of the Ministry of Water Resources FBR, Irrigation Department and WAPDA.