Inaugural NFC session put off amid flood threat

The Centre on Thursday postponed the inaugural session of the newly constituted National Finance Commission (NFC) on the request of the Sindh government “due to the impending flood situation”. A notification issued to all official and private members, as well as provincial and federal finance secretaries, said the date and time of the rescheduled meeting would be communicated later. The 11th NFC was constituted on August 22 to prepare a new award for sharing federal divisible resources between the Centre and the provinces. Its first meeting had initially been called for August 27 but was deferred to August 29 without explanation. This time, the Sindh government requested a postponement, citing precautionary measures required as heavy floods were expected to enter the province over the next two days from Punjab. Chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the NFC includes four provincial finance ministers and four non-statutory members, one from each province.