Rs 270 Bln Given For Erstwhile FATA's Uplift: NA Told

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published October 15, 2021 | 03:56 PM

Parliamentary Secretary on Finance Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi on Friday informed the National Assembly that the federal government had so far given Rs 270 billion for the development of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2021 ) :Parliamentary Secretary on Finance Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi on Friday informed the National Assembly that the Federal government had so far given Rs 270 billion for the development of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Responding to a calling attention notice regarding non-allocation of additional three percent National Finance Commission Award (NFC) Award to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for erstwhile FATA, he said, "Rs 97.6 billion has been released in 2019-20 while Rs 121.1 billion in 2020-21 for the development of erstwhile FATA".

The secretary said during the current fiscal year the government had allocated Rs. 129.7 billion out of which about Rs 51.5 billion had already been released for the uplift of the areas.

He said Rs 129.7 billion allocated for the current financial year stood four per cent to the divisible pool.

Responding to a question he said during the last meeting, the federal cabinet had requested the National Finance Commission (NFC) to take up the issue of giving three per cent to erstwhile FATA, and on the request of the cabinet, the issue was included in the agenda.

The NFC, he said, has constituted a sub-group under the supervision of the Finance Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to look into the matter.

He said it was also decided that till the decision of the NFC, the federal government would provide funds for the development of the areas.

The Parliamentary Secretary said the 8th and 9th NFC Awards had so far been not announced, while work on the 10th Award was underway and all the provinces should contribute their share for the development of tribal districts.

The chair referred the matter to the concerned standing committee for further deliberations.