QUETTA: The Balochistan government has warned it won’t be able to pay salaries for the next month if the Centre doesn’t immediately release the province’s share under the National Finance Commission Award (NFC).

After Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu Kashmir; Balochistan was the latest federating unit to have complained about the lack of financial help from Islamabad.

According to the provincial finance department, Balochistan was supposed to receive Rs131 billion from the federal resources under the NFC Award in the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year. However, only Rs101 billion has been provided so far, the finance department has claimed.

The Rs30bn shortfall has caused grave financial problems for the province and if the money was not released immediately, the provincial government would be unable to pay salaries to its employees, a senior official of the finance department told Dawn.

Says Centre yet to pay Rs30bn under NFC award; warns of impending financial crisis

He added Balochistan was already being paid Rs5-8bn less than its share in the NFC Award which has disturbed the province’s budget.

He claimed Balochistan was also deprived of Rs11.2bn in 2021.

As per the Constitution, Balochistan’s share in the NFC Award was 9.09 per cent.

The official added that the share was decided during the 7th NFC award, announced in 2010 “According to the Constitution, the share of Balochistan could not be reduced by the federal government,” the official said.

Another senior official said the huge shortfall will not only hurt the non-development expenditure but also the budget for ongoing development projects.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo has already demanded a new NFC Award to increase the constitutional share of the province in federal resources.

According to government officials, the federal government has also not adequately supported rescue and relief efforts in Balochistan after the catastrophic floods.

The province suffered massive losses during the recent floods and spent Rs8bn on rescue and relief operations from its resources, the officials said while lamenting the lack of support from Islamabad.

Before Balochistan, the governments of KP, GB and Azad Kashmir on Monday said they were facing a “financial crunch” due to the failure of the federal government to release funds.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2022