LAHORE: The meeting of Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) committee was held at New Minister’s Block with Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha in the chair. Minister for Local Government Mansha Ullah Butt, Lahore Lord Mayor Mubashir Javed, MPAs, Finance Secretary Sheikh Hamid, members of the technical committee of provincial finance commission as well as representatives of different departments attended the meeting.
The purpose of holding the meeting was to formulate the future line of action in light of the proposals of the commission and the approval of the proposed formula of technical committee of the PFC. The provincial finance minister disclosed that Punjab government was going to announce the first permanent finance award along with the upcoming budget. The formula of the distribution of financial award based on the facts and figures provided by different departments had been formulated by the technical committee of the commission for justifiable and transparent distribution of resources under the financial award, she added.
She further said that the funds would be distributed on the basis of population, poverty, need and performance in light of the recent population census results. The grants would be issued under four heads including general purpose, transaction, development and performance, she added.
PFC Technical Committee President Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakhsh and Technical Member Faisal Rashid informed the meeting about various matters pertaining to the constitution of the formula and answered the questions raised by the committee members. After it, the final formula of the financial award was approved. The minister directed the local government to increase its recourses through WASA, Solid Waste Management, Saaf Pani Companies and other agencies. She said that the local governments were being issued 49.5 percent more funds in permanent finance commission. She asked health and education authorities to stop unnecessary recruitments so that more and more funds could be utilised for development purposes. The committee was proposed that a formal policy should be formulated for the solution of pension related issues and contractual employees should be hired for temporary assignments. The minister and finance secretary appreciated the performance of the PFC Technical Committee and congratulated them on finalising the best formula.
