LARKANA: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday rejected rumours of completely withdrawing National Finance Commission (NFC) award and said that it has some errors, which would be rectified after the consultation process.

Speaking to media during his visit to Larkana, the prime minister said that under the 18th amendment, powers were devolved to provinces but they did not devolve it further to the grass-root level.

The prime minister said that the system would only be strengthened if powers are devolved to the grass-root level.

He vowed to introduce one of the best local bodies’ systems in the country, which would saw the direct transfer of funds to district councils.

He further said that issues faced by megacities like Karachi and Lahore could not be resolved unless direct elections for local bodies’ representatives are held in them. “Karachi Mayor should be elected directly,” he suggested.

The prime minister said the issues faced by the metropolis could not be resolved unless its representatives are adequately empowered and provided adequate resources.

Imran Khan said politics is being played on the coronavirus issue and said that decisions taken during NCOC meeting only after consultations with all provinces.

“We are facing dual issues as we have to save people not only from coronavirus but also from hunger,” he said: “We have not differentiated among the provinces and have extended equal cooperation towards them during the pandemic,” he said while claiming that sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah agrees on the decisions in the meeting but Bilawal Bhutto issues statement later to negate what the CM had agreed to.

He criticized Bilawal and said that he could not know the suffering of the poor segments as he had never visited a slum area. While rejecting lack of preparation from the government to deal with locust attacks, the prime minister said that they had imposed an emergency in the country to deal with it from January 2020. He said that none of the planes needed to conduct spray against locusts was in a position to be made functional. “We tried to fly one of them but it crashed,” he said, while criticizing the role of previous governments.

He said that a locust attack from India is expected in July and the government is in contact with the authorities in India and Iran to jointly counter its effect on the agriculture sector.

Speaking on the sugar inquiry report, the prime minister said that 80 sugar mills have paid Rs 9 billion in terms of taxes during the past five years and in contrast, they availed a subsidy of Rs 29 billion. “They have internal rifts but all of them are on the same page over securing monetary gains,” he said and vowed to avail all resources to expose them.—NNI