Talking to Business Recorder on Thursday, Hussnain Dareshak said, "I was in Islamabad for the meeting, but unfortunately it could not materialise due to the absence of one of our colleagues."
The absence of Sindh finance minister from the crucial meeting resulted in depriving the provinces from additional resources from the divisible pool for at least one more fiscal year as no time is left with them to reach some amicable solution to the controversy.
The decision of Sindh to stay away from the meeting could be linked with negative response of three provinces on its letter written a few days back wherein it asked them to accept its formula to put an end to the controversy.
The provinces had rejected Sindh's point of view and termed its demand as negation of basic principle of the federation. Sindh is demanding inclusion of revenue collection into basic NFC formula.
When contacted, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Salman Shah said the provinces were discussing the issue and hopefully they would reach some amicable solution. He said the provinces could even secure more funds from the Centre by resolving the controversy after the forthcoming budget.
The federal government had set the deadline of the second week to develop consensus among the provinces for the new NFC Award. There is hardly any time left with the federal government to wait for miraculous solution to the controversy. Now it has to prepare budget and allocate funds to the provinces as per the fifth NFC Award.
Under the fifth NFC Award, 57 percent of the resources will go to Punjab, 23 percent to Sindh, 13 percent to NWFP and only 5 percent share to Balochistan.
Differences between Sindh and Balochistan on inclusion of revenue and personal income tax in basic parameters of the NFC was the real hurdle in reaching consensus on the issue.